


ONE DAY (MAYBE NOT)

by shineefive



Series: What could've been [1]
Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Future Fic, I REGRET NOTHING, M/M, There are a lots of OC in this one, written as a gift from me to me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25607617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shineefive/pseuds/shineefive
Summary: After Asuma and Jiraiya's death at the hands of the Akatsuki, Tsunade finds herself trying to prevent any more unnecesary losses. Convinced it's the right thing to do she orders her subbordinates to use the orb passed from one Hokage to another to see the future.Will they find what she was looking for?
Relationships: Akimichi Chouji/Karui, Gaara/Rock Lee, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Neji/Tenten, Inuzuka Kiba/Tamaki, Nara Shikamaru/Temari, Sai/Yamanaka Ino
Series: What could've been [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913728
Comments: 81
Kudos: 146





	1. Other plans

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Into the Future](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/658744) by ichilover3. 



> Hello! I would like to clarify a few things first: When I started this work (almost two months ago) I did it after remembering a fic I read a long time ago, easily six years, that I couldn’t find here in AO3, I even went through ‘my history’ and believe me, I’ve read A LOT of works on this website, it took me days and days.  
> I had a vague idea about the plot, and decided to write my own, just for myself, to have something similar to it that I could enjoy. Then, I found out the reason I couldn’t find it was because it was not on this website, but on fanfiction dot net. When I discovered this I was almost halfway through it, and after reading that one again, I noticed they were not that similar. If you have read that one, you will probably notice too.  
> In the end, I finished this one just because the words kept coming, and in no time it was done. I'm posting it because I want to write a sequel, about the next generation of children mixed with the lives of our beloved Konoha 13 after the war, so here it is.  
> The work I’m talking about, and to which I owe my inspiration, is ‘Into the Future’ by ichilover3 on fanfiction dot net. If you haven’t read it, which I doubt, go and do it, because is much better than this one, I swear.  
> To end this really long note, if you have read my other story, you must know English is not my first language, if you find any mistakes please kindly point them out and I will check them out.  
> Enjoy, I guess.

Sakura had finished her mission and made her way to the Hokage office before noon. She felt particularly good about that, since it meant she had the whole afternoon to herself. She would practice her taijutsu, made herself a tasty lunch, and even laze around for a while if she felt like it. At least, that’s what she would’ve done if Tsunade-sama hadn’t had another thing coming for her.

As soon as her team arrive to her office, she felt something weird in the air. Tsunade-sama wasn’t her usual self; She looked tired, and Shizune, beside her, didn’t look much better. She worried, thinking something bad had happened, but Tsunade-sama was quick to assure her everything was right, nothing had happened, but rather, would happen, soon.

Thus, their team ended up receiving yet another mission instead of a well deserved rest.

And there she was now, in her living room. Her closer friends surrounding her, and a weird-looking orb in her hands.

“Is this some kind of joke?” asked Tenten.

“No! Why would I joke about something like this?” frowned Naruto.

“Unfortunately,” mumbled Sakura, finally leaving her thoughts behind “he is telling the truth. Tsunade-sama gave us the orb”

“Why would she give it to you, isn’t it some kind of tool only kages have?” Chouji was mumbling on his barbecue chips.

“Yes” explained Sakura “Listen I don’t know why Tsunade-sama gave it to me, I’m just following orders. Now please get on your asses and let’s get this over with”

“Shikamaru is missing” pointed Sai.

“Where is he?” asked Neji, from his place by the door, he had gotten there a few minutes before and decided to sit by the door in order to escape if it was necessary.

“Temari is in town, which means Shikamaru is her escort. They are working on the Chunin exams” explained Chouji.

“He keeps giving us the same excuse but I know better! They should be dating already, what is taking them so long?” whined Ino, her odd expression showing she wasn’t happy to be called on such short notice. She had been sleeping before Sakura called, and her hair wasn’t properly done.

“Mayb—” started Kiba, but was interrupted by the front door of Sakura’s home opening, showing an annoyed Nara and a smirking kunoichi.

“Sorry for the delay” mumbled Shikamaru while making his way to the back of the room, where an empty chair was, and motioning for Temari to take it “Temari had errands to run and I couldn’t leave her there”

“Quit the show” mocked Kiba “She’s been here enough times to make her way around alone, you just like being with her”

“Does that mean they are dating?” asked Naruto “they told me they weren’t the last time I asked”

“We are _not_ dating” groaned Temari, plopping down on the chair.

“Anyway” interrupted Shikamaru, while placing himself on the floor in front of Temari’s chair “Why are we here again?”

“Thank you” sighed Sakura, finally regaining the attention of her companions “Tsunade-sama gave us this orb” she held it up for everyone to see “It will show us the future” she raised her hand to stop them from speaking “And before you say anything, it is _true,_ she said so herself”

“How does it work?” mumbled Shino for the first time since he had arrived.

“You just touch it and let it do its thing” exclaimed Naruto while going to take the orb from Sakura, but she was faster and moved it out of the way. The blond pouted “Sakura-chan I want to go first”

The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes “Naruto, we talked about this, as we are the hosts is only fair to let someone else go first. You will get your turn soon enough, now sit down before I slap you”

Naruto frowned but obeyed her.

“But why would Tsunade want us to see our future? Wouldn’t that like, change it?” drawled Shikamaru.

“Excellent question, Shikamaru” answered Kakashi. Everyone jumped out at the sudden appearance of the jonin, whom was now standing by the window.

“Kakashi-sensei stop doing that!” screamed Naruto while pointing a finger at his former sensei.

The jounin showed no sign of regret as his only visible eye turned into a half moon, signaling that he was smiling “After what happened with…” he stopped to think, carefully choosing his words “..Gaara” he eyed Temari. The girl frowned but said nothing “Tsunade-sama wants to make sure nothing like that will happen here, and as you are the future of Konoha what you see could be important” he explained and headed for the door “I just wanted to make sure you were all here. Don’t forget it, we can change what we see in the orb, that’s why you’re doing this”

He left after that but Sakura was sure she heard something among the lines of “Rokudaime Hogake. Give me a break” coming out of his mouth on his way out.

“Yosh! Please let me go first!” cried Lee while his palms touched in front of him, in a pleading motion “I need to see if I carry the power of youth as I grow older!”

“No! I want to go first! I have to make sure I end up with someone worthy of me!” demanded Ino, while placing her hand over Lee’s mouth, stopping him from saying anything else.

Sakura sighed and glanced around the room. Neji was resting by the door, a bored look on his face, Tenten beside him sharpening a kunai. Temari sat in the chair Shikamaru had found for her while he sat in front of her with his arms resting on the floor and his eyes closed, probably sleeping already.

On the other side of her living room, Hinata was sitting in the couch with Shino and Chouji on each side of her, the last one was munching on chips while the other two were speaking in whispered tones, she couldn’t pinpoint what is they were talking about. Sai was in a chair beside the couch while Naruto was sitting in front of him in the floor, Lee beside him arguing with Ino, while Kiba and Akamaru eyed them from their place on the other side of the couch.

Why did Tsunade-same had to give her such annoying mission was beyond her, but as her pupil she had no other choice but to put up with it “We will do it in alphabetical order, and that’s my last word!” she stated while placing the orb in the coffee table by the empty wall in front of them.


	2. Rings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I have the chapters ready, I will be posting them as soon as I read them over. Forgive me if you find any mistakes, I have no beta and English is not my first language.

Chouji gulped when he heard Sakura say his name, what if he ended up death, or worse, what if he ended up alone! Oh man, why couldn’t someone else go first.

Sakura frowned and he took it as his queue to get up the couch. He reached the small table and took the orb “How does this work?” he asked out loud. Sakura was already sitting beside Ino.

“You just touch it and think of the future. Tsunade-shishou said it worked at touch” shrugged Sakura.

He sighed and did as he was told. At first nothing happened, but soon enough the orb projected a black image on the wall. It almost fell off his hands but he managed to stabilize himself before it happened. He quickly put it on the table and returned to his place on the couch.

Soon, the background changed.

_A slightly older Chouji was roaming the streets of Konoha, a bag of chips in his hands. Shikamaru walked beside him with a small, black haired girl on his shoulders; the little one, couldn’t be more than four years old, grabbed onto his ponytail with no effort, as if it was second nature for her._

_“When were you leaving again?” asked the pineapple head, making sure his steps were firm enough so the baby would have no danger of falling._

_“The day after tomorrow. I need to be there five days from now, that should give me enough time to stop for a break” he mumbled, his eyes focused on the line of stores to his right._

“Does Shikamaru have a daughter?” blurted Ino, eyes focused on the little girl smiling upon Shikamaru’s shoulders. Wind was ruffling the little girl’s hair, and her eyes were covered by big sunglasses.

“She has dark hair” pointed Tenten.

Shikamaru frowned, not liking where this was going “She’s not wearing a ponytail”

“She’s a baby! Why would you make her wear that horrible ponytail when she has such beautiful hair!” refuted Sakura.

_“Are we picking up rings, Chouji-niisan?” the kid asked, hands gripping tightly Shikamaru’s ponytail._

_“We are” Chouji smiled at the little girl._

_“We should check that one” pointed Shikamaru, leading Chouji to a small jewelry store placed at the end of the street. He carefully removed the girl from his shoulders and placed her in the ground, holding her little hand and entering the store just before his friend._

_Chouji wasted no time and went directly for the rings, placed behind the counter where a nice man was standing, he had never thought about rings before “Shikamaru, what kind of ring should I get her?”_

_“Wouldn’t know” answered his friend while eyeing a set of earrings._

_Chouji buffed and eyed the little girl “You two sure act like a married couple though”_

_Shikamaru ignored him in order to grab an earring and placing it next to the little girl’s ear “You think I should buy her this?” he asked his friend, who was now comparing three rings._

_Chouji turned and smiled “They look cute. What would her mom say though?”_

_“She trusts me” he simply said._

_The door opened to show a distressed Ino stumbling through it. She removed her hair from her face and smiled at the boys “Did you begin without me?”_

_“We waited for fifteen minutes” explained Chouji, raising his hands in order to show he was sorry._

_She dismissed him and turned to the little girl, frowning soon after “Shikamaru! Why is she hiding her beautiful eyes behind those sunglasses?!”_

_The man in question shrugged “She refuses to get them off” he tried to get the glasses from the girl’s face but she grabbed them before he could, pouting and crying out a small ‘no’._

_“See” he said._

“Man I look good!” stated Ino, appreciating the way her long hair cascaded down her back, no longer in a ponytail “Also, she totally is your daughter! Look at me being the pretty aunty”

“Is Chouji buying a ring?” asked Kiba, pointing at the screen, where Chouji was showing his top choices to Ino.

“You are getting married?!” yelled Naruto, eyes as big as Lee’s.

Sakura slapped him, carefully, to avoid hitting their friends sitting in the way “Why would he be looking for rings if it weren’t for him to get married?”

“Who is the lucky girl?” drawled Shikamaru, ignoring the comments about his possible fatherhood.

“I don’t know if I’m more excited about Chouji’s engagement or Shikamaru’s daughter” squealed Ino.

“I wonder who is the lucky mom though” smirked Tenten, eyeing Temari.

The sand kunoichi frowned “Don’t look at me! That girl is too white to be my daughter! And her hair is darker than Shikamaru’s. She can’t be mine. And also, we are _not_ dating!”

“No one said you were” pointed Neji.

“T-They are leaving” mumbled Hinata, pointing at the wall, were effectively the group of friends were waving goodbye to the owner of the store.

_“I’m so happy for you, Chouji” smiled Ino while placing her hand on his friend’s shoulder “Can’t believe you will be the first one of us to tie the knot!”_

_“I’m having a hard time believing it too”_

_“Don’t worry” added Shikamaru, baby in his arms “I’m sure she will say yes”_

_“I like Karui-neesan” beamed the little girl._

_“Of course she will say yes!” emphasized Ino “Karui loves you Cho”_

“Karui?” frowned Chouji, trying to remember if he knew anyone by that name.

“Maybe she’s not from here” reasoned Sakura “You did say you were leaving in two days”

“You got yourself a foreign girl Chouji! Sweet” congratulated Kiba, wiggling his eyebrows.

_“I know, it’s not her I’m worried about, but her dad” Chouji shivered at the mere thought of facing his girlfriend’s dad._

_“We should go out” stated Ino, twirling around and facing her companions “To take your mind out of this thing” she explained when Chouji frowned “It’s been too long since we went to our favorite BBQ restaurant together”_

_“I’m not paying” informed Shikamaru “You two have been exploiting me long enough”_

_Ino glared at him, one of her perfect eyebrows raised, asking a question she didn’t needed to voice._

_“What?” asked Shikamaru “I need to start saving if I want to get married too”_

_The small girl in his arms sang “Wedding! Wedding!”_

_Ino cooed at the girl “Yes Mirai-chan! A wedding!” she waved a dismissively hand at Shikamaru before returning her attention to Chouji, who was smiling fondly at them “Don’t worry Cho, I will be paying for our meal. I feel is my responsibility as your_ best friend _” she winked at him while Shikamaru rolled his eyes._

_Chouji laughed, throwing a hand over their shoulders and affectionally saying “You are both my best friends!” before pushing them along the street._

“Cho!” squealed Ino, turning to him “You _have_ to meet your girlfriend as soon as possible in order for me to befriend her! I need to be her maid of honor!” she finished, hope burning in her eyes.

Chouji didn’t even know the girl, but he was just as excited as Ino. The future didn’t seem so bad after all.

“You have a daughter named Mirai” winked Temari as she pushed Shikamaru to gain his attention.

“Mendosuke” growled the Nara, not sure of what to say. He didn’t know if the girl was his daughter, he hoped not, his future self looked too young to be a father, what would become of his life if he had kids before he could enjoy life? He sighed “Let’s hope she’s not mine” he whispered, but Temari heard him.

“Don’t worry” she said, smiling at him “I think she’s cute. And if you get over your laziness _maybe_ you could be a good dad”

He didn’t know whether to take as a compliment or an insult.


	3. Scrolls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay attention to this one, i left a few clues in it that you will need for future chapters (you can leave your guesses in the comments if you feel like it)!  
> Enjoy!

“It’s your turn, Hinata” said Sakura, smiling at her.

Hinata blushed, at this point it was just second nature for her. She nodded as her eyes violently glanced around the room, did they really have to look at her like that? She hated being the center of attention “O-ok”

“You can do it Hinata!” yelled Naruto, which only made her reach a reddish color on her face.

She shakily took the orb in her hands and thought of the future, wishing for it to be something she dreamed of.

_“I’m not changing my mind” stated Hinata, breathing in before continuing “It’s what he wanted”_

_An older Hinata was sitting at the head of a table, the rest of the chairs occupied by her father and sister. A few papers were scattered in front of her companions, and an old scroll was placed among them, open._

_“He’s no longer here” tried to reason her father, grabbing her hand._

_“And whose fault is that?” she answered, trying hard no to start shaking. Time passed but she still felt as if it happened yesterday._

_“Maybe we should keep discussing this another time” pressed her sister “Is not good for you to be stressing out in your state” she pointed at the big belly jumping out of Hinata’s clothes._

_“No” she interrupted “It’s always the same with this, I’ve had enough. I’m clan head now and I will decide what’s best for us”_

“Hinata!” praised Temari “I like that side of you! Didn’t know you were capable of speaking that way”

Hinata smiled weakly, she didn’t know it, either.

“And she’s pregnant!” yelled Ino “I’m going to be a double auntie! I can’t wait for the future!”

“Shhh” hissed Neji, trying to focus his attention on the projection in front of them.

_“You will be changing years of tradition!” protested his father “You think the elders will be ok with this?”_

_“I couldn’t care less about what the elders want!” she finally snapped, throwing her fist against the table and making a small crack “This... This… tradition is what’s keeping our family from being an actual family! I’m tired of it, this seal shouldn’t have been created in the first place. I’m not letting anyone else die because of it”_

_She got up the table, scroll in hand, and made her way to the door, stopping just outside the room “Don’t forget I have the Hokage on my side. We are destroying this thing whatever it takes”_

_When Hinata got out of the house the sun was setting. She hurriedly started her way to the Hokage tower, she had one more thing to do before the day got to an end._

The room was completely quiet. You could hear a pin drop.

“Hinata-sama” mumbled Neji, searching for her cousin’s eyes.

Hinata smiled at him, tears in her eyes “Neji-niisan, we are going to do it”

He wiped the tears coming from his eyes and smiled at her “Thank you” he mouthed, before closing his eyes and resting his head on the wall. Emotions flowed all over his body and he needed a moment for himself.

He felt Tenten’s hand squeezing his before letting go, followed by Lee squeezing his knee.

“That was intense” stated Kiba, slowly patting Akamaru.

The whole room nodded. At the back of the room, Shikamaru’s head was going crazy, the words said by Hinata and her father ‘he wanted this’ and ‘he’s no longer here’ resonated in his mind. Unfortunately, being a genius meant he caught up things before most people did, which meant he already had a theory formed. And it was a sad one.

He just hoped he wasn’t right.

“Where is Hinata going?” asked Lee, tilting his head.

“The Hokage’s office” mumbled Shikamaru, leaving that line of thought behind.

“How do you know?” frowned Temari, lowering her head to face him.

He shrugged “That’s the path I take when I go there. My house isn’t that far from the Hyuga compound”

“Shikamaru’s right!” announced Naruto just as the Hokage tower appeared in front of Hinata.

_Hinata smiled at the guards at the door and continued on his way to the office, she just hopped he hadn’t left yet. She passed a few jonin she vaguely recognized on her way to the third floor, nodding at them before finally reaching her destination. She took a few breaths before continuing the few steps left to get to the office, it seemed that being pregnant really was taking a tool on her. She knocked two times._

_“Come in” she heard a familiar voice._

_She opened the door and walked in._

“Kakashi-sensei?!” yelled Naruto at the top of his lungs, while frantically pointing at the screen.

Sakura was also in shock, her mouth hanging open, but for a completely different reason. There she was, sitting in the little sofa of the Hokage’s office, just as pregnant as Hinata.

“Sakura! You are pregnant too!” squealed Ino, shaking her to get her attention.

“Did you two plan to get pregnant at the same time or something?” scoffed Kiba “Is that something girls do?” he regretted opening his big mouth the moment his word filled the air, as a fist collided with his head.

It was Ino’s fist “Why do you care about that? Aren’t boys always measuring their penises to see who’s bigger? You dumb boys have no right making fun of girls getting pregnant at the same time” she scolded him, a large vein popping in her forehead, and fire burning in her eyes.

“I was joking!” cried Kiba.

“Please refrain from putting us in the same category as Naruto and Kiba” said Shino, people couldn’t see it, but his left eye was twitching in annoyance.

“Hey! It was one time!” cried Naruto “And Lee did it too!”

“Unbelievable” whispered Temari to herself, if those guys were the future of village, maybe Konoha really was doomed. Poor people living there when that happened.

_“Hinata” greeted Kakashi from his desk. He was signing a few papers with a look of boredom plastered on his face._

_“Hokage-sama” greeted Hinata “Sakura, Shikamaru”_

_“What can we do for you, Hinata?” asked Shikamaru from his place beside Kakashi._

_“I brought this” she handed him the scroll “Is the scroll of the cursed seal. You told me to bring it to you to start working on it”_

_Kakashi nodded, taking it from her and handing it to Shikamaru “Please make sure this gets to our seal division”_

_“Consider it done” Shikamaru said as he moved to his desk and pressed a few buttons on the phone._

“It appears Shikamaru finally grew out of his lazy antics” mumbled Chouji.

“It was bound to happen” he shrugged, he had been spending more time training and on missions since Asuma’s death. He had to make something out of himself to honor his late sensei.

_Hinata turned to Sakura, who was reading a few scrolls “Sakura, what are you doing here?”_

_The pink-haired kunoichi lowered the scroll she was reading and smiled at Hinata “I’m helping Kakashi-sensei with paperwork. Kami knows he and Shikamaru wouldn’t get anything done without me here”_

_Shikamaru coughed from his desk “We get plenty done without you here” he said, before turning to Hinata “She’s just afraid to be alone at home”_

_Sakura buffed “I’m not! I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I just don’t like to be there all the time. I’m going crazy!” she whined._

_Hinata frowned, glancing around the room “But where is Taro-kun?”_

_Sakura smiled “He’s with Ino, said she wanted to practice taking care of a baby before her own arrived”_

“Sakura!” exclaimed Temari “It seems you are already on your second round” the Suna kunoichi smirked.

Sakura gulped. Two kids? She wasn’t even sure if she wanted one! Her line of thought was interrupted by an excited Ino hugging her, and squealing something along the lines of ‘pregnant buddies’ over and over again.

Kiba was almost stupid enough to make fun of them again, but a single look from Neji told him it was a bad idea.

_“You can spend all the time you want here, Sakura” interrupted Kakashi “I told him I would take care of you while he was gone”_

_Kakashi’s words only seemed to anger the pink kunoichi “That clown!” she snapped, closing her hand into a fist “I’m going to kill him when he gets back! How dare he go on missions when I’m so close to my due date?! And you!” she pointed at Kakashi “This is all your fault; you are the one who assigned him this mission! Couldn’t you have sent someone else? If I give birth and my husband is not here I’m making you hold my hand while it happens Kakashi-sensei, and you are going to regret it when I crush it”_

“Sakura-chan that’s no way to speak to your Hokage” mumbled Naruto.

“He clearly earned it” interrupted Tenten.

“I still don’t understand who the fathers of your babies are” added Kiba, not able to stay quiet any longer. He was happy to notice his words had a positive impact this time, as everyone nodded.

“Let’s hope I’m Sakura-chan’s baby daddy!” beamed Rock Lee, a hopeful look on his face.

There was a collective gag sound.

“Lee!” Tenten cried, refusing the urge to go over him and punch him in the face “Don’t say things like that!”

 _“Please don’t let it be Lee”_ prayed Sakura.

 _“Please let it be Naruto-kun”_ cried Hinata.

Just as those thoughts ran over the kunoichis’ heads, the door to the Hokage’s office opened.

_“Kakashi-sensei! I’m back!” greeted an older Naruto from the door. He was wearing the typical jonin outfit, with the green vest and blue pants._

“NARUTO IS THE BABY DADDY?” screamed Lee, his hands going to his ears, tears falling down his eyes “THIS CAN’T BE TRUE, THAT SHOULD BE ME!”

“OH MY GOD I MARRIED SAKURA-CHAN?” screamed Naruto at the same time.

Hinata was on the verge of tears just as Sakura was shaking her head, pleading it wasn’t true.

_“Oh! Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan!” smiled Naruto, just as he made his way to the girls._

_“Naruto-kun” smiled Hinata, placing a hand on her belly “We were just talking about baby stuff”_

_“I just came back from border patrol, nothing new” he said, placing his arm around Hinata’s waist._

_Sakura frowned “Naruto! Move your arm, you smell terrible” she said as she covered her nose._

_Naruto pouted but did as he was told “But I missed Hinata-chan”_

_Hinata let out a giggle “I missed you too, but Sakura is right, you smell terrible”_

“I MARRIED HINATA?” screamed Naruto, just as Hinata’s face turned a dark shade of red, fainting before she could get a word out. Chouji got to work, using his empty bag of chips as a fan to try and wake her up, while Shino eyed Naruto from the corner of his eye, not that anyone was able to see it.

“I think I’m going to be sick” mumbled Neji, unable to believe Hinata had married the knucklehead.

Tenten laughed, patting him in the head “It was bound to happen”

“Mah! Naruto! Seems like you finally made it pass genin!” mocked Kiba.

“Oh my god who is the father of my kid?” whined Sakura, both relived and annoyed by the fact that she still didn’t know. Deep down, she hopped it was Sasuke, but a part of her kept telling her it was impossible, as he was still missing.

Kiba purred “That could be me”

Sakura contained the urge to gag again “I’m a single mother” she stated, earning a collective laugh from everyone else.

_Hinata was still talking to her friends, Shikamaru having joined them when two ANBU’s appeared in a puff of smoke. They wore the usual ANBU uniform, the only thing telling them apart were their masks; the first one had a bear painted on it, little ears coming out of it and two purple whiskers on each side, the mouth formed a little pout, making it look sad. The second one had the shape of an eagle, a big beak coming from it and half of the mask painted blue._

_“Hokage-sama” greeted the first one “We just got back from Kirigakure, the Mizukage sent you this” he extended his arm, where two scrolls were placed. Kakashi took them a nodded._

_“Shino! Lee!” yelled Naruto, earning a slap from Sakura._

_“Baka! You’re not supposed to use their names while they wear their uniforms!”_

_Naruto raised his hand to rub the sore spot “But there’s no one here!”_

“YOSH! Gai-sensei will be so proud of me! I made ANBU no less!” cried Lee while looking at the sky.

“We didn’t expect any less from Shino” exclaimed Kiba while reaching for his friend, forcing him to bump fist “I must be out on a mission. Wouldn’t be surprised if I made ANBU too”

_Back on the screen, the group had engulfed the two ANBU’s and were now having a full-on conversation ignoring the Hokage._

_“Would you like me to leave my office?” deadpanned Kakashi when the noise got too loud for it to be ignored, but no one answered. He sighed. “How long will it take me to get out of this misery?” he mumbled to himself, before getting up and getting out of the office using the window._

“Maybe we should try to be more respectful towards Kakashi once he becomes Hokage” reasoned Shino, watching the screen turn black.

“Respectful?” mocked Sakura “He may be Hokage but he’s still the same perv that goes around reading porn in public!”

Naruto violently nodded “Pervy Hokage”

Back in the couch, Hinata was finally regaining conscious. Her head felt light and she was still a bit red, but her excitement was clear in her eyes. The were glowing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you already noticed, Sakura has an older child! See, my biggest dissapointment with the next generation is that they gave every couple an only child, like, c'mon? Even to Sakura and Sasuke, whose dream was to restore his clan, Kishimoto gave him an only child. And they only gave two to Naruto and Hinata because he is the main character! So yeah, that's what i'm changing.  
> And another thing that may be important in the future, i dont watch Boruto, the only thing i know about the babies it's what i've seen on tumblr and the ocassional video that pops out on my feed from time to time, so they probably are a bit of OOC in this story. And as i stablished before, this story is already finished, but as i read it before uploading this chapter, i found myself changing and adding things, so nothing is settle! if you've any suggestions, i'm all ears :)


	4. Attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late. I was scrolling trough fanfiction when I came across long stories and then short ones and then time passed and I just couldnt stop reading those to actually read this over and finally upload it! But don't worry, I'm uploading two chapters as an apology!

“We can discuss that later. It’s my turn!” beamed Ino, getting up and reaching the small orb. She closed her eyes once it was on her hands a quickly returned it to the table, before going back to her spot next to Sakura.

_Ino was animatedly talking to Chouji in the middle of the street, her long blond hair was tucked into a high ponytail and she wore her signature clothes: a purple two-piece set that allowed her flat tummy to show. Chouji too, was wearing his signature uniform: a red long-sleeve shirt with his traditional clan armor on top._

“They look exactly the same” shrugged Tenten.

Ino whined “Why did I have to get the boring one? I want to know my future! Why did this thing had to show me something that will probably happen tomorrow?”

“It could still be interesting” shrugged Sakura, patting her friend on the back.

_“Things have been pretty quiet; don’t you think Cho?” asked Ino while looking up at the sky, enjoying the sun._

_“Mhhm” he nodded._

_Ino frowned, turning to her companion “What’s up with you? You are unusually quiet”_

_“I was just thinking” the boy shrugged, glancing around the street “Shikamaru’s been spending less and less time with us”_

_“He’s just busy” she smiled “You know how much time with his dad he’s been spending since what happened with Asuma-sensei” she finished in a whisper, the images of Asuma’s death flowing throw her mind._

_Chouji gulped, still a sour subject to him too “I know. But sometimes I miss him, we barely have missions together anymore”_

Shikamaru flinched at the words on the screen, Asuma’s death would always be a sour subject in his life, being the moment he lost his mentor and gained a huge responsibility: protecting the king.

He sighed and felt Temari’s hand on his shoulder. She had been weirdly understanding since then, although it shouldn’t come as a surprise to him, since they had become friends over the years planning the chunin exams and showing her around Konoha ꟷand saving each other’s asses, but that was a different thing.

What bothered him the most was the fact that his friends felt that way. Tenten was right, they didn’t look a day older than they did now, which meant they had been feeling that way for some time now and he hadn’t notice. He felt guilt build up inside him. He would have to deal with this soon.

_A series of explosions were heard all over Konoha. Ino and Chouji, surprised, turned around to find a large column of smoke, where a big centipede appeared._

_Ino jumped back “Whꟷ” she began, only to stop when she realized Konoha was under attack “Chouji! I will inform the intelligence division!” Chouji nodded and she began to run, she had to get to her dad as soon as possible, Chouji could manage on his own._

“I-I don’t understand!” cried Tenten “Is the village under attack?”

“It seems like it” nodded Shino, his face showing no sign of distress, unlike the rest of his friends. It wasn’t as if he could do anything about it at the moment, he thought.

_Ino passed Sakura, who was fighting a centipede, finishing him in just a punch and saving an old lady and her granddaughter. She wanted to stop but needed to get to her destination, not far from her way she could see Shikamaru destroying another one with his shadows, using them to trap it and bursting that thing into pieces with some bombs; he was protecting a pregnant Kurenai._

“Oh my god!” urged Sakura, raising her hand to cover her mouth.

“This thing is happening soon” Shikamaru was pressing the bridge of his nose “Kurenai is already showing”

“We need to alert Tsunade-sama” agreed Neji, already getting up, but Shikamaru stopped him.

“No, we need to finish this first. Tsunade-sama gave us this mission for a reason, it’s our job to find as much information as possible. Then we can go tell her everything we found”

Neji pondered his options for a minute, and finally returned to his seat.

_Ino reached the building and continued running until she got to the room where her dad was interrogating a man “Dad! The village is under attack!”_

_Inoichi gasped, but wasted no time “We need to find something now!” he ordered as he went back into the mind of the prisoner._

_Ino sighed, wishing they would find something. She wanted to go into the battlefield and help, but she knew she would be more useful where she was._

_A few moments later Shizune ran through the door, a masked man following her. She had finished the autopsy on the body of one of the pains, and was now explaining what she had found._

_An explosion by the wall made everyone leave what they were doing, a giant beast had torn the wall apart, and was now standing in front of them. Before they could move, another beast attacked the building; the whole complex collapsed, and they were saved by Katsuyu engulfing them before they hit the ground. Soon enough, a woman with bright orange hair appeared on top of the animal._

_She heard his father mumble something to Shizune. He sent her a message, they needed to move to the decoding center._

_She ran, easily outrunning her father and Shizune, she ran like their life’s depended on it, because it kind of did. It was up to them to get the information to the decoding team. She passed Kiba and his mom, going into the autopsy building, and then Shino and his family, taking on the purple-haired woman, dressed in an Akatsuki robe, and once again, she wanted to stop and do something, but she knew she couldn’t._

_They stopped in front of the decoding building._

_“There are six pains” started Shizune, hiding behind a pillar “Each one controls a different type of Jutsu. The woman we saw, she uses the summoning jutsu, which means the one that Jiraiya killed is been replaced”_

“I think this is happening before I expected. Jiraiya’s message isn’t even decoded yet” reasoned Shikamaru.

“You have been working on it for days!” cried Ino, how could they have nothing by now? “Isn’t Shiho-san helping you out? She’s almost as smart as you!”

Temari raised an eyebrow, but kept her mouth shut. So the lazy ass had been hanging out with other woman, interesting.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds” defended Shikamaru.

_“Jiraiya-sama’s message means none of the six pains is the real one. There’s one in the shadows controlling them, they are just dead people” explained Shizune, kneeling in the ground._

_“Then he must be close to control what they do” exclaimed Ino._

_One of the pains landed on the ground, just in the middle of the group, and used a bomb to send everyone flying backwards._

_The screen went black._

“I’m not sure I want to look at my future after that” mumbled Kiba. Beside him, Akamaru barked in agreement.

“Tsunade-sama was very clear” stated Sakura, removing a strand of hair from her face “And we are not the first ones. She already did it, and a few jounin”

“Knowing what happened can help you change it” reasoned Temari “I wish we had this before Gaara got kidnapped”

“Or before Ero-sennin's death” whispered Naruto.

“Knowing the future could cause terrible changes though” interrupted Neji, before anyone could come to regret another thing from the past “That must be the reason Tsunade-sama didn’t tell us about this orb sooner”

Kiba nodded, whatever that thing showed him, he could change it.

“Let’s hope this is the only bad thing the future holds for us” prayed Ino. At least her future had given them a little insight about a future crisis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was not what you were expecting, but it had to be done, I mean, this was their mission after all! I'm sure we will get to see more of Ino's future in the next chapters, and I should know, since I wrote this hah.  
> I know this is not exactly what it happened during the pain attack, but as this is my story, I get to toy around with the actual plot.  
> Feel free to let me know what you think :)


	5. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next one! I will make sure I don't procrastinate as much the next time around, seriously, is only reading them over before uploading them, I don't know why I drag it so much, but tbqh, I procrastinate everything in my life, even watching TV shows, like the umbrella academy, I REALLY want to watch it, but I just can't bring myself to do it.  
> But enough about me, enjoy!

“C’mon Kiba-kun! It’s my turn next! Hurry up!” implored Lee, almost pushing him out of his seat.

Kiba growled. Had Lee promptly ignored what they had just seen? Konoha was in danger!

He hesitated for a moment, not sure of what to do.

In the end, he made his way to the orb. He was a shinobi, and this was a mission.

_Kiba was panting. Next to him stood Akamaru, almost as tired as him, his tongue out and his whole body shaking from exhaustion, but he stood in front of him, ready to protect Kiba as the loyal companion Akamaru was. There were a few cuts on Kiba’s face, a long one running along his jaw, and he was holding his right arm into place with his free hand._

“Man I was right!” cried Kiba “Why did I touch the stupid orb?”

Akamaru was barking at the screen. Apparently worried about seeing Kiba in that state.

_“Team two, do you copy?” he took his hand to his intercom. Shikamaru always appeared at the worst times._

_“Team two here. I’m down. Sakura is still fighting the enemy. How is everyone?” he flinched, breathing was hard when he had three broken ribs and a deep cut near his stomach._

_“We are done here. Is Sakura managing ok?” Shikamaru sounded exhausted._

_“Yes” he tried to take a deep breath. It hurt like a bitch “…As soon as she finishes here we will meet you at the designated point”_

_He watched as Sakura gave the final blow to their last enemy, sending the shinobi flying backwards and hitting a rock a few meters away from them. She quickly made her way to him, her brows were furrowed._

_“Kiba!” she scolded “You shouldn’t have done that, look at you” a disapproving look appeared on her face as she took on the beaten state of her teammate. He tried to smile, but he was sure it looked more like a grimace._

_She helped him to a more comfortable position, laying him on the ground. Akamaru slowly crying beside him, now that the fight was over, he could sense his pain “I had to. If you were hit I wouldn’t be able to heal you”_

_She gave him an apologetical smile as her hands started to glow a fine green. She held them to his abdomen. She didn’t look better than him; her hair was dirty, same as her clothes, and she had a nasty cut on her left arm._

_He sighed in relief as the pain started to slowly fade off. When she finished he could barely feel anything wrong with him, but he knew he would have to take it slowly for a few days._

_“We should go meet the others” she said as she healed her arm._

_He nodded._

“I’m having trouble understanding what’s going on here” Chouji was voicing everyone’s thoughts.

“I think you are on a mission, but it must be bad since you got split from your teammates” suggested Temari, trying to figure out just what was happening.

“It could be one of Shikamaru’s plans” suggested Shino.

_Kiba could see the clearing where they were supposed to meet their group. Sai was laying on the floor along with Hinata. Ino was trying to heal them at the same time. She glanced up when she heard sounds from the bushes, but relief filled her face when she spotted them._

_“Sakura!” she exclaimed, not moving her hands from their chests “Help me out, please, they are badly hurt”_

_Sakura nodded, getting to work as soon as she reached their teammates._

Sai frowned at what he was seeing on the screen. What was he doing with them, still running missions no less, and more importantly, out of his usual uniform.

_Kiba stopped in front of Shikamaru, who was speaking quietly to Shino and Naruto._

_“How did it go?” he asked, eagerly to hear if their mission had succeeded._

_“The mission was a success.” informed Shikamaru. He looked fine, if only a bit shaken up “Their leader was killed along with everyone else, so far there are no casualties on our side. Chouji and Lee are scouting the area to make sure we didn’t miss any of them. As soon as team six gets here we can make our way to Konoha”_

_Kiba smiled, finally letting out the air he didn’t know he had been holding “That’s good. This turned out to be a more difficult task than we initially thought”_

_Shino nodded “The enemy was stronger than anticipated”_

_“But we still kick their asses! The Konoha 13 kicked ass again! ‘ttebayo!” grinned Naruto._

_Shikamaru rolled his eyes but say nothing. Kiba ignored him and fist bumped Naruto “Sure did, as per usual” Behind him, Akamaru barked._

“Konoha 13?” asked Ino, frowning at the screen.

“Sasuke-kun?” gasped Sakura. Everyone held their breath. There, in the screen, was none other than Sasuke Uchiha getting to the clear along with Tenten.

_“Teme! What took you so long?” yelled Naruto, smirking at his friend._

_“There were more enemies than expected, dobe”_

_“Got everyone?” asked Shikamaru, just as Chouji and Lee walked into the clear._

_He nodded “As usual”_

_Ino and Sakura were helping Sai and Hinata to their feet when Shikamaru signaled them to show the way “Let’s head back home”_

“Sakura-chan!” yelled Naruto, making his way to the girl and hugging her tightly “We brought him back!” he screamed.

Sakura had tears in her eyes. Not believing what she was seeing. Sasuke came back, he returned to the village and protected it, if the band in his forehead was anything to go by. She hadn’t been happier in years.

Everyone was silent. Not knowing what to say. They didn’t expect him to go back, not after the first year they tried to find him.

Neji coughed, regaining everyone’s attention “Seems like you were close to Konoha”

_The group had reached the gates of Konoha, quickly passing by Kotetsu and Izumo._

“I think that happens before Hinata’s future” pointed Shino “The village looks less developed”

Shikamaru nodded “Mhm. We look younger too. And you are wearing jonin outfits. In Hinata’s future you were an ANBU”

_Kakashi was sitting on his usual chair when they walked in, and he looked up from his desk, tired eyes encounter theirs. To his left, on the small couch by the wall, the council members Koharu and Homura were sitting and discussing something between them._

_“Hokage-sama” greeted Shikamaru “Koharu-sama, Homura-sama” the group bowed, following Shikamaru’s lead._

_“Ah! Shikamaru, I was hoping you would come back soon” his lonely eye curved into a half moon “You have paperwork pilling up in your desk”_

_Shikamaru sighed, slowly glancing to his desk before continuing “The mission was a success. As per usual, we were right. The enemy was in fact, from Kirigakure, but the Mizukage had nothing to do with it, the group was trying to make it seem like they were betraying us, to weaken the Shinobi Alliance. It was a group of missing-nin not happy with how things were going”_

_Kakashi nodded “I’m glad to hear the Mizukage was telling the truth, and even happier that I believed her. We would be in trouble if it had been the other way around” he turned to the rest of the group “Is everyone all right?”_

_They nodded “Good. I expect a full report tomorrow morning. But for the meantime, you are to rest and recover”_

_“It’s good to see the Konoha 12 is keeping up to the expectations Konoha has put them in” They were on their way to the door when Koharu spoke._

_Kiba flinched, as did the rest of the group. But it was Tenten who actually said something: “Konoha 13” she growled, barely able to contain her fury._

_“Excuse me?” mumbled Koharu, frowning at the girl._

_“We are the Konoha 13” she turned to face the old lady “We may be missing a member, but we will always be the Konoha 13. We were named that during the war and we will be carrying it with pride, the fact that Neji isn’t here doesn’t mean he is no longer a member. He will always be” with that, she threw her one last glance and made her way to the door._

The whole room stood still as the screen turned black, and then disappeared, leaving only an empty wall in front of them.

“It appears that my life will be shorter than I expected” Neji’s voice echoed through the room. He felt a shiver down his spine but ignored it, in order to put a smile on his face “Don’t worry about it, I’m not scared of dying”

Tenten frowned at him, anger filling her body “Dying?” she growled “Who said anything about you dying? For all we know you are just on a long mission”

“Yeah” Kiba gave a dismissive wave with his hand “Maybe you got married to a foreigner, like Chouji!” though he, just as everyone else in the room, had the feeling that was not it.

Hinata had gone from happy to scared in just a second. Neji would…die? No, that couldn’t be, not his cousin. She started to hyperventilate, Shino quickly putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s not forget” he mumbled, trying to calm her down “that the future is not certain. We can change it”

“Neji’s one of the stronger shinobi I know” agreed Lee, his usual smile no longer in his face “The flame of youth burns greatly in him, I’m sure he will be ok”

“We should focus in more important matters, like the alliance they mentioned” Neji pressed on, trying to get everyone to forget about him.

“And your Hokage seemed awfully friendly with the Mizukage. Aren’t you like, enemies?”

“Temari has a point” agreed Shikamaru, trying to get over the fact that his gut had been right once again.

“Maybe we will find out more about it during the next futures” offered Sakura.


	6. Uncle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends! Let's see what the future has in store for our dear Lee!

“It’s your turn, Lee” prompted Neji, still eager to leave the topic about his life, or rather lack of, behind.

Lee gulped, before reluctantly getting out of his seat. He was no longer excited to find out what the future had in store for him, not if his friend and rival wasn’t there. He trembled when his hand touched the orb, as he was supposed to, but snapped out of his gloomy mood when he recalled the hitai-ate tied around his waist. He was a shinobi of the leaf, this was a mission, not the first nor the last one he faced. He tightened the grip on the orb, he would just have to make sure saving Neji became another mission, one he wouldn’t fail.

He removed the hand from the orb, the screen in front of him quickly turning black once again.

_Lee was sitting on an old bench under a tree, his legs crossed while he watched the kids playing on the park. He was on babysitting duty. His eyes followed the kids running around, picking up fights and playing tag, but his eyes constantly gazed to the sandbox to his left._

“What is Lee doing spying on little kids like that?” whispered Temari to Shikamaru, eyeing the boy on the other side of the room suspiciously.

Her companion shrugged “Maybe he’s babysitting”

“Who would, in their right mind, let him babysit their kid?” she deadpanned. And _he_ was the genius?

_“Dad!” cried a small boy with a bowl cut just like Lee’s, and big bushy eyebrows._

_Lee got up quickly, concern for the boy’s well-being showing on his face, and made his way to the small sandbox where the boy was standing. He found him pointing at his companions, tears in his big eyes._

“Oh my god” shrieked Sakura, gapping like a fish “There is another one of them”

“History repeats itself” Tenten felt a shiver run through her body, reminiscing the times Gai-sensei tried to get them to wear those awful clothes.

“Awful. Just awful” Ino felt sorry for the poor kid on the screen, he wasn’t even born yet and his future was already disastrous, just like his father’s fashion sense; because there was no way Lee wasn’t his father, if the eyebrows were anything to go by.

_“What’s wrong Metal?” he asked, scanning over the boy to make sure he had no visible injuries._

_The baby boy wiped his tears with the sleeve of his green spandex before answering “They keep telling me my castle looks bad” he said with all the anger a five-year-old could master._

_Rock Lee eyed the other boys, an eyebrow raised “Shinki, Shikadai, what do you have to say about that?”_

_The boys had the decency to look embarrassed “I’m sorry, uncle” said the first one, a small boy dressed in a green cloak; his hair was in a high ponytail that made him look like a pineapple._

“Man, just how many kids are you planning to have?” mocked Kiba from his position in front of the couch.

“That you can’t deny Shikamaru, he looks exactly like you” grinned Chouji.

Shikamaru sighed. But said nothing, there was no point into denying it. That kid looked exactly like him, safe for the eyes, those looked exactly like the ones staring right at screen behind him, he glanced her way before shaking his head. That couldn’t be right.

“Are we going to ignore the fact that Shikamaru’s kid called Lee ‘uncle’?” pointed Sakura.

“Lee doesn’t have sisters” pointed Neji.

“Neither does Shikamaru” Ino frowned, not understanding what was happening.

_“I’m sorry papa” mumbled the second kid, but his face showed no remorse. Unlike Metal, who was the spitting image of Lee, he looked nothing like him, with his spiky brown hair and teal eyes, and the red war paint on his face that made him look scarier than any seven-year-old. He was playing with the sand, unbothered by his surroundings._

“I think I’m losing my mind” breathed Tenten, her hand over her heart “Where did Lee found a girl to have not only one but two kids”

“Poor girl” agreed Temari.

Lee, on the other hand, was too busy admiring the scene playing in front of him. His eyes were bright. He had two kids, two beautiful boys whom he could pass on the fire of youth to, and of course help them become great shinobi. Was it possible for someone to have to separate feelings inside? Because it was happening to him, he was dizzy, pain and happiness fighting each other.

“Why would _you_ let Lee babysit your kid? Too lazy to take care of him on your own?” grinned Temari, pocking Shikamaru in the arm.

“Too busy being the Hokage’s advisor” he pointed, just to cover the truth, he had no idea as to why would his future self let his son anywhere near Lee.

_“See” he said to his younger son “They are sorry. I’m sure they won’t do it again” the last part came out more like a warning. He whipped the tears blubbing from his eyes “Let’s just go get ice cream before going back to the house, you need fire to increase your spirits, I’m sure!”_

_The kids got up, smiling at the possibility of getting ice cream. And suddenly, they were running out of the playground and into the streets of Konoha._

_Lee was following closely behind “The flame of youth is stronger on them” he mumbled to himself._

“Then, until this moment we have seven kids” counted Tenten, trying to remember the past futures they had seen.

“What?” asked Sakura, not understanding what her friend was saying.

“Your kids” she explained “We saw you and Hinata pregnant, plus you already had one, Sakura” she put up three fingers while the raven kunoichi gained a pink tone in her face, remembering she would have kids with her beloved Naruto “Then Shikamaru and Lee have two each”

“We still don’t know if the first one is mine” pointed Shikamaru.

Ino rolled her eyes “Enough with the denial, Shikamaru”

“I-I think there are more” mumbled Hinata, pointing at the wall.

_Two kids were running down the street, they kept looking back while avoiding the innocent people trying to go by._

_Lee turned around when he heard an angry woman yell something about disrespectful kids and manners. He waited a few seconds for the kids to reach the ice cream store and gripped them by their clothes before they could pass him._

_They shared a confused look before turning their heads to look at him “Uncle Lee!” they squealed in unison._

_“My dear nephews, just what are you doing running around the civilian district and bothering the youthful souls that live here?”_

“Omg just how _many_ nephews do you have?” cried Tenten, still trying to understand what was going on.

_“We are on a mission” the girl pointed to the hitai-ate on her brown hair, where it was placed as a hairband, as if that would explain everything._

_“Let us go uncle! Shikaru-chan will get mad if she catches us slacking off here!” the other boy was fighting the grip Lee had on him, but was unable to break free. His long silver hair fell into one of his eyes, only kept at bay by his hitai-ate._

_“It feels just like yesterday when I was holding you both for the first time and here we are now, you two have grown into such fine shinobi!” Lee was, once again, crying his feelings out, not bothering to notice the annoyed faces of the kids in his arms._

“Kakashi-sensei shrunk!” yelled Naruto, violently pointing at the kid in the screen.

Sakura wanted to hit him, but was too busy trying to figure out if the kid in question was really Kakashi-sensei’s kid. He sure looked like him, at least the hair, but his face wasn’t covered up by a mask, and since she hadn’t seen Kakashi’s face yet, she couldn’t be sure it the boy had anything to do with her sensei. But one thing was for sure, those dark, green eyes didn’t belong to Kakashi.

_“Sora-neesan! Yukio-niisan!” greeted a voice from the door of the ice cream store. Metal stood there, waving excitedly at them with one hand while the other held a half-eaten ice cream cone._

_“Metal-kun!” cooed Sora, stopping her useless fight to smile at the little boy. Her lilac eyes closing as she squealed “You look so cute!”_

_Yukio sighed “Hello, Metal-kun” he greeted the small kid._

_A second later, the scream of an angry girl was heard all over the civilian district “Yukio! Sora!” footsteps were heard behind the four individuals outside the store._

_A small girl stopped behind them, her arms held a black cat and her brows were furrowed, hazelnut eyes pointedly glaring at the kids still held by Lee. Her blond hair was tied up in a half ponytail and her hitai-ate was hanging from her neck._

“Mystery solved” grinned Kiba.

Temari’s eyes were flying from the screen to Shikamaru to the screen again, unable to believe what her eyes were seeing. There, in the sleeve of the light-yellow jacket the girl was wearing, the Kazekage symbol was plastered, along with the Nara one.

Shikamaru shifted in his spot, trying to figure out what to say. _Mendosuke,_ was all he could think. Leave it to him to marry the most troublesome woman he had ever met.

_“You left me alone!” growled Shikaru, fighting to keep the fat cat between her arms._

_“He kidnapped us!” explained Sora, trying to stop her teammate from killing them._

_For the first time, the girl glanced at the man keeping her teammates trapped “Uncle Lee?” she frowned._

“This is getting ridiculous” scoffed Chouji, offering some chips to Shino and Hinata.

Temari was still blinking like she had something in her eyes, why would she marry such a crybaby, good for nothing, weakling man? Ok, maybe she was exaggerating, she liked Shikamaru, they were friends, one of the few she had since she was little ꟷwith Gaara being a psychopath for the first twelve years of his lifeꟷ, but she wouldn’t marry _him,_ right? _Right?_

_“My sweet Shikaru, I’m deeply sorry for keeping them from you. They were bothering the civilians and it was my duty as the green beast of Konoha to stop them” he said truthfully, giving the girl his best Rock Lee pose, finally letting go of the kids to do so._

_The blonde sighed, but ended up nodding at the green beast before turning to her teammates “Fine. But I’m telling Sasuke-sensei!” she passed the cat to Yukio and stomped away, the other two following quickly._

_“Don’t do it!” cried Sora, her long hair trailing behind her as she hurried to catch up with the blonde._

_“I don’t want to train until midnight again!” pleaded Yukio, fighting the cat on his arms, trying to get free by scratching the boy’s arms._

“SASUKE TEME IS THEIR SENSEI?” screamed Naruto, not able to contain his surprise.

“My daughter is a snitch” lamented Shikamaru.

Temari slapped him in the back of the head “Don’t talk like that about _my_ daughter! They had it coming!”

“I can’t believe Sasuke-kun comes home, and on top of that he becomes a sensei!” squealed Sakura, hugging a perplexed Ino.

“But why does every kid call _him_ uncle?” asked Chouji, snapping his bag of chips from Sai’s hands, where it had ended up after he lent it to Hinata.

“Perhaps the kids see the friends of their parents as uncles. Is not uncommon” explained Shino.

“The middle kid looked like Tenten” added Neji.

Said kunoichi looked at him like he had grown another head “She doesn’t”

“She had brown hair” reasoned Ino “and her clothes had the same air yours have”

Tenten frowned “And what does _that_ even mean?”

“You have that Chinese air to you; the way you dress I mean” the blond tried to explain.

“Her eyes have some kind of lilac-like color, mine are plain chocolate, it’s impossible. And I’m not having kids, nor marrying anyone, for that matter” she stated, hoping to drop the subject. She wasn’t fond of kids, in fact, she couldn’t even see herself as the mother type. She was a kunoichi, and a damn good one, she wouldn’t give that up just for a screaming toddler. She had only thought about it once, and if the future was right, the man in her mind would be nowhere near her for it to happen.

“What are my brothers doing in Konoha” interrupted Temari, taking in the scene playing in the vision. Gaara and Kankuro were walking down the street, along with Shikamaru, because of course they were. She rolled her eyes.

“Visiting you?” offered Sakura “I think you live here; your daughter had a Konoha hitai-ate”

_“Otosan” greeted the brown-haired boy, making his way to stand next to his father, a slightly older Gaara._

_“Jesh kid, don’t bother saying hello to your uncle” Kankuro rolled his eyes, trying to hide the pout forming on his lips._

“Oh my god” moaned Kiba, he was pointing an accusatory finger at Lee “ _You_ married the Kazekage!”

Lee was completely red, his eyes glued to the screen.

“That explains a lot of things” whispered Shino, but the visible part of his face showed no emotion.

Gaara married that…that _clown?_ Temari had officially lost it. Coming to this meeting had been the worst mistake of her week, even the whole month.

_“My handsome boyfriend!” greeted Lee “How was your meeting with the Hokage?”_

_Kankuro frowned, and before Gaara could even open his mouth, he answered, in an offended tone “It went well Lee, thank you for asking, no need to greet your brothers in law here”_

_Shikamaru ignored him, in order to greet his son “Shikadai, have you seen Temari? She was supposed to be back from her mission an hour ago”_

_His miniature copy shook his head “Maybe she’s hiding from all of you”_

_“Why would she do that? She’s our sister” Gaara was frowning, not understanding what was going on._

_“Makes sense” agreed Shikamaru. He glanced at the odd group standing in front of him, sighing as he made his way to the Nara compound a few meters away from them._

“Temari-san” spoke Hinata, looking at the blond at the back of the room “You have beautiful children. Shikadai has your eyes”

The blonde coughed, trying to hide the blush creeping into her face. She couldn’t get mad at the shy kunoichi for trying to compliment her genes, so she sent a smile her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you miss my rambling during the notes at the beginning? Don't worry I got you, I just didn't want to spoil anything.  
> First of all, I know Metal has to come from some woman, but I didn't think it mattered much for this story, since I already knew I would make Lee and Gaara a couple and they would raise their beautiful babies together and be happy and love each other and everything! So yeah, there is that, buuuut, I already said I want to expand this little universe I kind of created so you may see what happened there in the future. And as I don't watch Boruto I don't really know how old Shinki was when Gaara adopted him but here in my perfect world he did it when Shinki was younger (around five) and he did in fact visit Temari a lot and their kids are the perfect example of best cousins because I say so!  
> About Sora and Yukio, can you guess the parents? wink wink, do you think the guesses of our dear Konoha 13 are right or you have something completely different in mind? please let me know!  
> Just to end this real quick, this is my favorite chapter until know (and probably from the whole thing, not gonna lie) so i hope you liked it uwu


	7. Septimo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it!

Uzumaki Naruto was uncapable of containing his excitement. He was completely sure what his future would be about, it was impossible for it to be different. Being Hokage had been the only thing on his mind for the better part of his life, maybe his whole life. This was it; he would know if he made it in a few seconds.

Without wasting time, he reached for the orb “My turn! My turn!”

“What are you so excited about?” asked Sai.

“He probably wants to know if he’s going to be Hokage” reasoned Shino.

Naruto frowned “I don’t want to know if I’m _going_ to be Hokage! I want to know _when_ , since I know I will be! You just wait and see! I’m going to be Rokudaime Hokage!”

“That’s Kakashi-sama” pointed Neji. He enjoyed the confusion in Naruto’s eyes as the words left his mouth.

He doubted for a few seconds “Then I will be Nanadaime Hokage! ‘Ttebayo! Just wait and see!”

“Pay attention then” instructed Shikamaru, pointing at the screen “It’s starting”

_Naruto was standing in the middle of the Hokage office, his eyes were pierced on the Yondaime picture by the wall._

_“It feels weird to see so many pictures in here” he breathed, scratching his head “I sometimes think it was yesterday when they were only four. Are you sure you want to retire already, Kakashi-sensei?”_

_Said man was sitting on the edge of the Hokage desk, behind him were three big piles of paperwork._

_“Mah, I never wanted the position in the first place, I only took it as a favor to Tsunade-sama”_

_“Wasn’t it exciting? Being Hokage?”_

_“You saw me all this years” he scoffed, dragging a hand down his tired face “Did it seem like I was enjoying myself?”_

_The blond turned around to face him. A big smile on his face “I worked almost thirty years for it. But now I think I’m only doing it to save you from your misery”_

“Does that mean Naruto really becomes Hokage?” Kiba was violently shaking his head, not able to completely believe what he was hearing. 

“I TOLD YOU! I’M GOING TO BE HOKAGE! ‘TTEBAYO!” Naruto was glued to the wall, wanting to get closer to his future.

“Baka!” Sakura dragged him back to his place “Stop getting in the way!”

_“Care to do the same for me?” sighed Shikamaru from his chair. The desk in front of him was almost empty but his arms were full with a sleeping boy._

“ _Shikamaru!_ ” Ino drawled, just for the fun of it. That kid was too blond to be his “Just how many kids will you have?”

_The blonde smiled sheepishly, moving closer to his friend and grabbing the small kid. Once in his arms, one could notice the similar features they shared, the baby had two whiskers on each cheek, and his blond hair was as short as his new carrier; the white jumper he was wearing had the Uzumaki symbol on it. The boy couldn’t be more than three years old._

A collective ‘owww’ was heard in the room, the girls giggling as the small kid yawned, opening his small mouth in an ‘O’ shape.

“Hinata! Your kid is so cute” cooed Tenten, her hand over her mouth, trying to control the giggles coming out of it.

Hinata was almost in tears, admiring his future husband carrying their baby boy.

“That’s _mine_?” asked Naruto, watching his older self caressing the small kid.

“Don’t you see he’s just a copy of you?” Sakura raised an eyebrow, this was a new level of dumb, even for him.

Naruto frowned “I’m not that dumb! I just…” he hesitated “I’m not sure I ever thought about kids before”

_“I’m sorry Shikamaru, he was crying so much, and babies love you. I don’t know how you do it” the blond started to walk around the room, making sure the kid was comfortable._

_“I’ll have to agree on that one, Yukio loved to be held by you whenever I had to bring him with me” Kakashi nodded, his eyes closing as if reminiscing of past times._

“Kakashi-sensei got married?” cried Sakura, not believing his pervert sensei got himself a girlfriend.

“Yukio? That’s the kid from before! You think Kakashi looks like him?” wondered Ino, remembering the nice face the kid had “If he does then he must be hiding some handsome face behind that mask”

“That’s my sensei you’re talking about!” cried Sakura, covering her ears.

_Shikamaru rolled his eyes “It was nice when it was just my daughter, but now I can’t leave the house without my friends asking me to hold their babies. Mendosuke”_

_“Baby whisperer” mocked Naruto._

_“Your son is barely a baby anymore” he pointed._

_“As far as I’m concerned, he will be a baby forever” the blond refuted, shielding the baby from Shikamaru._

“Naruto-kun you are so good with him” Hinata blurted out. It took her almost every ounce of her courage, but seeing what the future had in store for her gave her a newly found power.

The blond blinked. Right, he married Hinata. He had never thought about the girl that way before, busy chasing after Sakura. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, finding out he had chased a dead end for so long and ignoring what had been in front of him for so long. The stutters, the crazy color her face took every time she spotted him, the fainting… Man, maybe he was as dumb as everyone pictured him to be.

“I’m sure you will be great with him too, Hinata-chan!” he smiled at her, briefly taking his eyes off the wall.

It was no surprise to anyone in the room when the kunoichi fainted upon hearing Naruto place the suffix after her name, this time in real life, not during the vision.

_“Anyway” interrupted Kakashi, grabbing a folder from one of the piles “The ceremony will take place next week” he pointed at the folder “This is your last mission as a jonin of Konoha. Take it as a bachelorette party, since you will be glued to your desk for the next couple of decades”_

_Naruto make a move to grab it but Kakashi moved it out of his way, instead handing it to Shikamaru. The advisor took it, frowning._

_“Shikamaru, you’re the leader of the mission. You are too busy being my advisor and with your other jobs to actually take good missions. It would be good for both of you”_

_Naruto pouted “Kakashi-sensei I thought it was_ my _gift”_

_“It’s for the both of you, I’m sure Shikamaru will have a handful of things to do once you take over. Besides, Kami knows Shikamaru is the brain and you’re the brawn in your little friendship”_

_Shikamaru inspected the file, taking in the information while Naruto pouted all over the room “S-rank?” he asked._

_“Mhm. As you know, we lost two ANBU squads last week while checking a rather big number of deaths near the eucalypt village, that’s why I’m handing the file to you” he walked around his desk, sitting on his chair “Take some of the Konoha 13 with you, but not all of them, we can’t leave the village unprotected with most of our shinobi out on missions”_

_Shikamaru and Naruto exchanged a glance, words spoken without a need to voice them, and Shikamaru turned to the Hokage, a smirk playing on his lips “Don’t worry, we just need a five-man squad”_

_“We will get them Kakashi-sensei! ‘Ttebayo!” Naruto grinned, just as the boy in his arms started crying._

_Kakashi sighed, upon hearing the cry “You leave in an hour” and motioned for them to get out of the room._

_Upon closing the door, Shikamaru reluctantly took the kid from Naruto when the blond shot him his best puppy eyes. The small kid stopped crying as soon as Shikamaru held him in his arms, instead glancing around, taking in his surroundings._

_Naruto frowned “My own son likes you better than me. I was defeated by Konoha’s laziest ninja” he sighed dramatically, throwing his hands in the air._

_“Uncle lazy” the boy laughed. Grabbing Shikamaru’s nose before the jonin could stop him._

_“Stop crying and hurry up” Shikamaru mumbled to Naruto, walking down the stairs to the first floor of the Hokage tower while trying to keep the boy out of his face “Is Hinata home?” he asked his companion._

_The blond shook his head “She’s out on a mission with Sakura-chan”_

_Shikamaru frowned “So is Temari, my mom is watching over the kids but she’s set to go on vacation with Ino’s mom in a few hours. We need someone to take care of the kids while they come back. We don’t know how long we will be gone”_

_The blond sported his best evil smile “Don’t worry. I have the perfect man for the job”_

_“Uncle lazy!” the boy yelled again “I want to be tall!” the kid pointed at Shikamaru’s head._

_“Don’t worry Boruto, I will carry you on my shoulders” said Naruto, reaching for his kid._

_The small boy frowned, but left himself be carried by his dad._

_The screen went black._

“Ehhhh?” cried Naruto, grabbing the orb and shaking it, as if doing so the screen would turn back on “That’s all I got????”

Sakura snatched the orb out of his grip and slapped his head “Don’t be greedy Naruto!”

“But my kid!” he cried “I don’t even know if he likes me better than Shikamaru!”

“You are his father, Naruto” Shino said, stating the obvious.

“I-I’m sure our kid will like you very much, Naruto-kun” mumbled Hinata, conscious once again. She was still blushing.

The blond glared at her, and slowly his smile started to show again “Of course, Hinata-chan! I’m going to be the best dad ever! Believe it!”

“I doubt it” smirked Sai, mocking his teammate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yukio? Kakashi's kid because i just couldn't stand the thought of Kakashi spending his whole life ALONE as Kishimoto wants us to believe! Not on my watch dude! Can you guess what i had to do to give him a kid? Feel free to guess who the mother is. Is he still with her? Was it a one night stand? Is Kakashi even married? Man, who knows! I mean, i know, but i didn't actually wrote it out, i just know it, maybe i will let you know when this story ends (I left a few clues before in case you want to try and guess!)  
> The babysitter Naruto mentioned? Sasuke, of course, I thought about adding it, you know, the reaction of Naruto handing Sasuke a bunch of kids to look after when he already has two of his own lol, but i decided not to, maybe in the future i will get around to write that sequel! And i made sure to mention that all the amazing kunoichi were out of town on missions because it’s what they deserve! From what ive seen Kishimoto made them all stay-at-home moms (which is totally fine, being a mom is as an important job as any other but C’mon, we all know Kishimoto always put down female characters) but all their husbands kept on being shinobi? Once again, not on my watch!  
> Ps. Septimo (the chapter's name), means Nanadaime in spanish, in case you didnt know what it meant.  
> xoxo see you soon!!!!!


	8. Fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Here's the one and only... Chapter 8!

Neji was…troubled, to say the least. Up until fighting Naruto four years prior, he had grown used to know what to expect of the future. He knew he was born to protect the main family of the Hyuga clan, and he had been fighting the feeling for years until he understood that it was his fate. But then, Naruto had come around and simply told him that he had the chance to change that, he could make his future something he actually wanted.

And then the orb appeared, and he was once again filled with thoughts about his future and what he would accomplish in a few years. Only to be met with the premise of a short life. He had yet to appear in the future of his friends, and he wasn’t so sure about wanting to find out why.

Tenten elbowed him, trying to regain his attention. He had wandered into his own thoughts without knowing.

He raised his head to find everyone unusually quiet. Unfortunately, he knew they were thinking the same thing. Suppressing a sigh he left his place next to Tenten and made his way to the small table where the orb was placed.

_Konoha’s gates could be seen from where Neji was standing. The projection showed only his back, where a small backpack was placed. A shiver went down his spine as he took the last steps into the village._

_Next to the gates, the usual check point was placed. Neji stopped in front of it, where two shinobi were animatedly talking. They stopped when Neji coughed to gain their attention._

_Neji handed them his papers and waited for them while they filled in his information on the usual book._

_When they got to the name, both stopped “Hyuga Neji?” one said, almost choking on his words._

_He nodded, and extended his hand to grab the papers back, before heading into town. When he turned around to leave the desk his face finally came into view. His eyes held the same ‘don’t talk to me’ attituded, but his features were stronger than before. A long scar covered his left side, running from his eyebrow to his cheek; and his usual, long hair was now middle length, and held in a low ponytail. Where once his hitai-ate had been, bandages where placed._

Neji felt like he could breathe again. He was alive. Changed, but alive.

Next to him, Tenten was almost crying, and he could hear Hinata sniffing on the other side of the room.

“See!” cried Lee, holding a hand to his heart “The flames of youth burn brightly inside of Neji even as he grows old!”

“Where have you been?” frowned Ino, taking in the dirty clothes he was wearing as he made his way down the shinobi district of the village.

“I don’t know” he grumbled.

“I know” drawled Shikamaru, placing a cigarette between his lips but making no move to light it. He pointed at the waistcloth creeping out of Neji’s clothes “He was protecting the Daimyo. Asuma-sensei did it too, during his youth”

“I knew you couldn’t be death!” Tenten was hugging the life out of him.

“Hinata is on again” informed Temari, just as Hinata appeared in front of the Hyuga household as Neji was making his way into the Hyuga state.

_Hinata dropped the cup of tea she was carrying when she spotted her cousin “Neji-niisan” she whispered, as she made her way to meet him, almost tripping on her way there._

_Neji caught her midair, before gently returning her to her feet “Hinata-sama, are you ok?”_

_She nodded, whipping tears out of her eyes before leaning in for a hug “It’s been so long. I thought you would never come back”_

_He returned the hug “I received a message from the Hokage. He said it was urgent”_

_“Oh Neji-niisan! So much has happened since you left! Almost eight years” she finally let him go, motioning for him to follow her into the house._

_“It’s certainly been a long time. I almost feel like I don’t belong here anymore”_

_“Don’t say that” she mumbled as she opened the door to let him in “This will always be your home”_

_“How is everyone?” he asked as he left his backpack by the door._

_“Things are good” she said, carrying a trail with two cups from the kitchen._

_“Tenten mentioned in one of her letters that some of you have kids, yourself included. I’m sorry I missed the wedding”_

_She gave him a slight smile “Boruto is only two months old, you didn’t miss much. And don’t worry about the wedding, I know you didn’t want anything to do with us”_

_“Hinata-sama, you know that didn’t include you”_

_“You were pretty clear the day that you left, Neji-niisan. But don’t worry, I know you meant no harm to me”_

_He sipped his tea “Do you happen to know what Kakashi-sama wants? He said it was urgent but I was bound to go to the Hyuga compound first”_

_She nodded, but said nothing._

“So this happens after Hinata’s future” commented Temari, using a small fan to refresh herself “You think they managed to do it?” she whispered to Shikamaru.

The boy shrugged “By the look on Hinata’s eyes I would think so, but we can’t be sure”

_“He sent the message in my behalf” she said, grabbing a small scroll from the trail placed on the table. She handed it to him “This is for you”_

_He placed it on the table and opened it. Inside the scroll a small seal was placed, along with the words ‘free bird seal’ written on top. He frowned, looking up to Hinata “What’s this?”_

_“The seal used to remove the one in your forehead” she smiled “We finally got rid of it Neji-niisan. Kakashi-sama, Naruto-kun and the seal division created the counterpart, you need to take it to their headquarters for them to place it on you. It will fade after a few hours”_

_Neji blinked, not able to form any words. Hinata grabbed his hand “We will replace it with another one, they are working on it right now, they said it would be ready in a couple of daays. The whole clan will be sealed, no exceptions. I know I should’ve done it sooner, but the elders kept meddling in” she apologized._

_“Thank you” was all he managed to say after a few minutes. A slight smile playing on his lips._

_“Thank you, Neji-niisan. It was you who made this possible. You followed your path, and that helped me realize I could do the same”_

_“I will go right now” he said, already getting up and making his way to the door._

_“Neji-niisan” Hinata said before he walked out of the room._

_He stopped, turning around to face her “Yes, Hinata-sama?”_

_“You should stop by Tenten’s house before making your way to the seal division. She has something important to tell you”_

_He frowned, but nodded before finally walking out._

“Hinata!” started Lee “Your future self sure burns brightly with the flames of youth!”

“He’s trying to thank you” explained Tenten, her hand on Neji’s shoulder “We know how much this means to Neji”

Hinata eyed her cousin, wanting to get up and hug him, but instead stood still in her spot, waiting for him to say something. When he didn’t, she decided to gather her courage “I-I will do it sooner this time, Neji-niisan. I’m going to train harder and become clan head sooner in order to make this happen before you feel the need to go”

Neji kept his head low, trying to contain the tears threatening to fall “Thank you” he whispered.

The rest of the shinobi present in the room felt the need to look anywhere but the scene playing in front of them. It felt like an intimate moment.

Ino elbowed Sakura, pointing at the screen.

_Neji stopped in front of a small apartment building, quickly making his way upstairs. The walls were a baby blue, contrasting with the red doors he was passing by. He stopped when he got to the last one in the third floor. The door read 3-D._

_He knocked. A few tumbles could be hear from the inside of the house, and a few minutes later a distressed Tenten opened the door. She looked older, but still young at the same time; bangs framed her face as her hair was held in a bun on top of her head. She was wearing a lavender skirt with a white Chinese-type of shirt._

_Her face took on a surprised look as her eyes found his “Neji” she said. Stepping out of her apartment and closing the door behind her “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with the Daimyo?”_

_“Kakashi-sama sent a letter. Said it was urgent” he offered, his eyes pierced on her._

_Realization hit her, and her eyes opened in surprise “Have you… talked to Hinata?”_

_“So you knew” he said, resting his back on the wall behind him. She offered a sheepishly smile and nodded “I was on my way to the seal headquarters but Hinata told me I should stop by your house first. Are you ok? She didn’t say why”_

_She stood there for a few minutes, looking everywhere but him._

“Why am I so nervous about?” Tenten was almost on the edge of her seat, it felt like watching a movie and not knowing what to expect next.

“Are you confessing to him?” mocked Kiba, earning himself a slap to the head courtesy of Ino, frowning beside him.

 _“Listen” she started, playing with her fingers “I didn’t tell you because I knew how you felt about the subject, but this was something_ I _wanted. I apologize for the fact that I hid it from you, but not for going through with it”_

_Neji stopped her, grabbing her hand “Tenten I don’t understand what you’re talking about”_

_As if knowing what was happening outside the door, a cry was heard from inside the apartment. Tenten stiffened while Neji’s eyes appeared about to pop out of their place. The kunoichi sighed, and motioned for him to follow her._

_They entered the house, it was a small but spacious apartment, pictures of team Gai were placed on the wall, along with a few of their others friends. But what resonated more, were the baby pictures placed all over the house; newborn pictures, along with a slightly older baby and then a small child._

_Neji frowned as he followed Tenten into a room at the end of the hall. There, inside a big crib, stood a baby girl crying her heart out, until Tenten started cooing and bent down to lift her out of the little bed. She placed the baby on her right hip, holding her in place with her arms and turned to Neji._

_“Mama!” squealed the girl, grabbing onto Tenten’s clothes._

_“This is Sora” she smiled proudly “Your daughter”_

The room was silent, you could hear a pin drop. Most of the shinobi present were gapping, trying to understand what was happening in front of them.

Tenten was almost as red as Hinata had been when she found out about marrying Naruto. She was at a loss of words, not knowing what to say to the boy sitting next to her. Neji looked about as ready to fly the room as Lee looked when Gai-sensei mentioned it was time to rest.

Thankfully, on-screen Neji was faster than any of them, and voiced what they were all thinking.

_“I’m having trouble following” he mumbled; his eyebrows were furrowed, and his mouth was hanging slightly open. He kept glancing between the baby and Tenten._

_“Don’t worry” she said, shaking her head “I only wanted to tell you because it’s your right as her father, but I don’t plan on making you responsible for it. I decided to keep her, it’s_ my _baby. Nobody knows, just Hinata and Sakura” she started pacing around the room, avoiding his eyes “I was afraid she would be born with your eyes, and I would have to tell everyone, but she wasn’t” she pointed at the baby’s eyes, they were a fine lilac and looked nothing like the other Hyuga’s “So I kept it a secret”_

_“That’s why you stopped visiting?” he questioned, eyeing the smiling girl in Tenten’s arms as she stopped moving around._

_“Yes”_

_“I thought you were mad at me, about what I had said to you”_

_“About you not wanting to get married?” she scoffed “Get over yourself Neji, I may have loved you, but you were not_ all that _” she grinned, handing the baby a small stuffed animal with the shape of a dragon “I just couldn’t take that kind of trips anymore, who would I leave the baby with? Lee?” she left out a dry laugh “Gai-sensei does a lot for me as it is, taking care of her when I go on missions”_

“Tenten I would very much like to take care of our little Sora! As we have already saw she burns brightly with the fire of youth! I would like to pass onto her what Gai-sensei is been teaching us for years!” Lee was blooming with joy, unable to hide his excitement as the prospect of passing the will of fire onto the next generation appeared on his head once again.

“You are not taking care of _our_ daughter” Neji interrupted “Ever” he stated as his attention turned back to the wall, pointedly ignoring Tenten’s shocked face.

_“I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me”_

_Tenten gave him an exasperated look “Neji, you left as soon as you found out about the elders’ decision about not removing the seal. You took the Daimyo’s invitation to join his guard and just left; you left our relationship behind, along with your whole life. Every time I visited you made it clear you had not intentions of bringing a kid into the world if it meant they would have to be sealed. And I understood! Because I love you!” she placed the now calmed child into the crib, she was happily babbling to her stuffed animal “But when I came back the last time and found out I was pregnant…I just couldn’t do it”_

_She turned to him; a sad smile playing on her lips “She’s everything I didn’t know I wanted, like a dream come true. She looks like me but she’s all youꟷ I know she’s three but I know she’s got your brain; she takes on things other children don’t, and is as stubborn as you are and gets angry about practically everything. But don’t flatter yourself, she’s got my sense of humor and my ability to make friends. Just ask Shikamaru, his daughter and Sora are tied by the hip”_

Shino held back a tear threatening to fall down his left eye. Her teammates, Hinata and Kiba, were full on sobbing. He didn’t know he would end up as such an emotional mess when he accepted Sakura’s invitation earlier in the day.

Sakura and Ino were crying their hearts out “It feels just like watching a movie” half-whispered Ino to her friend while accepting the tissue she was offering.

“Tenten is such an amazing woman” Sakura cried back, trying to keep her voice down.

_“It’s gone” he said, taking the few steps separating him from the crib “The seal, I mean. She will not be sealed” the baby was now playing with a few toys sprawled all over the little bed. She looked up when Neji reached for her little hand._

_“Play with me” she said, handing him one of her toys. He blinked, but took the small doll nonetheless. Moving it around._

_“I know” Tenten said, watching them interact “Hinata said she would make sure to get the seal removed, and bring you back”_

_The screen went black._

Tenten and Neji were pointedly ignoring each other. The rest of the group didn’t know what to say. Except for Naruto, he was too busy daydreaming about his future as Hokage to actually pay much attention to anything happening around.

“Neji didn’t die” Sai offered, as a way to avoid the fact that it was his turn.

“I think your kid is really pretty” continued Ino, whipping the remaining tears from her face.

“She has beautiful eyes” agreed Temari, trying to dissipate the weird atmosphere covering the room.

Tenten coughed “Thank you” she said. She didn’t know what to do about Neji, but one thing was sure, the kid was cute.

Neji eyed the kunoichi for a few seconds “She’s got her mother’s beauty” he whispered; voice barely audible.

Tenten held her breath, not knowing what to say. Was she supposed to hear that? Everything seemed so confusing at the moment.

“Why is everyone acting so weird?” asked Naruto, finally taking into account the weird atmosphere in the room.

“Too many surprises” Kiba wasn’t crying, he really wasn’t. Shinobi didn’t cry, they shed manly tears.

“Neji and Tenten?” Naruto scoffed, pointing at his friends “I saw that coming from miles away! Just like Temari and Shikamaru!”

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow “You mean you knew we would end up together but you didn’t see Hinata and you getting married and having children?”

Naruto frowned “How was I supposed to know Hinata was in love with me? I thought she fainted around everyone, not just me” he finished in a whisper.

Sakura rolled his eyes “You’re such an idiot, Naruto”

Naruto sighed, something unusual for him “At least I know now! Hinata-chan and I will be going on lots of dates after this! Dattebayo!”

“You’re supposed to ask the girl first” Ino reminded him.

“Maybe we should go on a date, too” Neji turned to Tenten, bringing her attention back to their own problems.

Tenten blinked a few times, not understanding what was going on “A date?”

Neji nodded “There’s no point in denying what’s right in front of us” he pointed at the empty wall “We already know what comes next”

A light blush covered Tenten’s cheeks. A date? With Neji Hyuga? _The_ Neji Hyuga? Well, he had a point; they even had a daughter to prove it. But Tenten didn’t want kids, not at the moment, future Tenten may had changed her mind with time, but present Tenten knew what she wanted, a long life filled with missions, no strings attached. But then again, it was Neji, her longtime friend and once upon a time genin crush. And Sora ꟷ

“You don’t have to answer me right now” interrupted Neji, looking up to the ceiling “Perhaps that’s for the best. I like what the future has in store for me, we shouldn’t rush things if we want them to stay the same”

On the other side of the room, Shino decided it was time to move on “It's your turn, Sai”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mhm... Was it something you were expecting? I'm thinking yes, but please let me know!  
> For me, it was impossible to see Tenten with anyone but Neji, just as it was impossible for me to picture him with someone else. I always believed they would end up together, just like shikatema. Which is why, from the moment I started writing this story, I knew it would go like this, there was no other way!  
> I wasn't really into any other ships the first time I watched Naruto, so you can imagine the disappointment I felt when Kishimoto killed Neji for a fucking naruhina moment! God I was so mad, but anyway, in my head Neji went onto live a long, fulfilling life with Tenten and our dear Sora. That's canon, I dont make the rules.  
> How did he survive? You can choose whatever you want! A miracle? Sakura doing some magical ninjutsu? Kaguya deciding he was such an important asset to the world he couldn't just die and decided to bring him back? I'll take anything! I really dont care as long as he lives.  
> Anyway, I hope you liked it uwu, I had a hard time writing it so I really hope it will meet your expectations, if it doesn't then I'm really sorry.  
> Till next time my friends!!!!!


	9. Formation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on, and so does this story! Enjoy!

Sai was used to know what to expect from the future. His whole life had consisted on a series of steps provided by someone else. He knew what to do as soon as he woke up, and spent his years waiting for the next command to arrive.

Sitting in a room full of people he was beginning to know, made it difficult for him not to feel something. Years of learning how to suppress his emotions didn’t prepare him for the palpable feelings his new teammates exuded. 

He touched the orb, if only because it was his mission, commended to him by the Hokage herself, and went back to his seat.

_A much older Sai was standing next to an angry Ino. They were in the middle of a training ground, along with an older Chouji and a woman with red hair and dark skin. The playground itself was isolated apart from them. The clear finished where the trees began, covering whatever was on the other side._

“Mhhhm. Someone didn’t lose their touch as they aged” smirked Ino, admiring the curves of her body, wrapped in a light purple dress, and her long hair styled in a ponytail.

 _“It’s getting late and there’s no sign from_ any _of those kids!” she growled, throwing her hands in the air and stomping her foot on the ground._

_“It’s ok, Ino” said Chouji, placing a hand on her shoulder “I’m sure they will be here any minute”_

_“Shikamaru and Temari are not even here yet, I’m sure the kids think they get to be late since he’s set the example plenty of times” laughed the red-haired woman._

_“He had a meeting with the Hokage” informed Sai. He gave them one of his usual smiles, but it appeared to be real, unlike years ago._

_“I can’t even get mad at him knowing how much he works” the blonde sighed, resting her head on Sai’s chest. The man placed his hand on Ino’s hip._

Sakura and Ino shared a look. The pink-haired kunoichi mouthed “Why would you marry him?”

“It may just be an affair” she mouthed back. But if what she thought was happening, really was happening, that may be a lie.

_As if she was listening to their conversation, Temari appeared from the bushes. She was wearing a light-yellow dress that went down to her ankles, with a scarlet sash around her waist, accentuating her curves. Her big fan was on her back and her face was dusty, with a few stains on her clothes._

_“Sorry I’m late, I just got back from a mission” she glanced around the field “Where are they?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows._

_“Not here, obviously” grumbled Ino._

_“We don’t know” informed Sai, moving his hand to Ino’s back, as if to calm her down “Ino is getting angrier by the minute”_

_“That lazy ass kid I have for a son!” Temari lamented, placing her fan on the ground and using it to lean on “He’s just like his father”_

“Oh my god” cried Temari, placing her face between her hands “Why would I marry _you_?” she asked Shikamaru.

“Don’t look at me” he retorted “I’m asking myself the same question”

“At least we can see why you two would get married!” scoffed Ino “Look at me! Apparently I married Sai and I don’t even know him, _at all_!”

Sai sported one of his usual fake smiles “I don’t understand either, I never thought about marriage before”

Chouji was too busy looking at the screen. There he was, an older version of him, with his arm over the shoulder of a red-haired woman. A beautiful woman at last. He was having trouble believing the future had that in store for him.

He voiced his thoughts “I, for once, I’m happy about the future” he smiled at his friends.

“Your wife looks nice” smiled Hinata.

“She does, right? I hope she likes food, I could cook for her” his face took on a goofy smile “we could cook together!”

_“Be glad you have Shikaru to compensate his lazy antics. I’m losing my only son if he doesn’t show up to practice in a minute!”_

_“There’s no need to threaten our only son, beautiful” Sai commented, trying to plead for his son without getting himself into trouble._

_“Maybe they got caught up back in the academy?” Chouji offered._

_“I highly doubt it” sighed Ino._

_“We are forgetting about the possibility of them just ditching us” the red-haired woman chuckled._

_“Karui!” scolded Ino “You shouldn’t be laughing at that! We need to stick together in order to punish them!”_

_Karui had the decency to hide her smiled behind her hand “Oh I totally agree, I was just stating the possibility. Chouchou often gets lost in the line of restaurants on her way here”_

_“I don’t think they would ditch us. Kids aren’t supposed to do that, right?” pondered Sai, scratching the back of his head, as in deep thought._

_“They aren’t” agreed Ino “but then again, children have a tendency to break the rules”_

_“Oi! Where are the kids?” Shikamaru was walking into the training ground. Hands in his pockets and that lazy look he carried around present as always._

_“Late” shrugged Temari._

“We are training the new ino-shika-cho?” wondered Chouji, glancing at his friends.

“Seems like it” answered Shikamaru.

“Trying to, would be more appropriate” smirked Neji.

_“Maybe we should call it a day. It’s been fifteen minutes” suggested Karui, fanning herself with her hand._

_“I agree with Karui” Sai tried to remove his hand from her wife’s back, but stopped when he noticed Ino’s face “I have work to do” he explained._

_“No one is leaving” stated Ino, placing her hands on her hips as she turned around to face them all “It’s tradition to train at least twice a month all together. It’s the middle of the month already and only now could we make our schedules work! I’m tired of training those little monster by myself!”_

_“Hey!” frowned Chouji “I make it most of the time!”_

_The woman rolled her eyes “Oh Chouji give me a break, training with you is like putting the kids to make flower crowns. You’re too soft with them”_

_Karui placed a hand on Chouji’s arm “She’s right”_

_“Anyway. Those kids better get here before I cut their little heads into pieces!”_

_“I don’t think that will be necessary” scoffed Temari, pointing to the training ground entrance._

_Three kids were running like their life’s depended on it. The first one was a boy with light blonde hair tied up in a low ponytail; he was wearing lilac overalls over a purple sweater, the handle of a katana peaking over his back. His eyes were the same color as Ino’s, while his pale skin matched Sai’s tone._

_To his right was the living image of Shikamaru, the boy had his black hair tied up in a high ponytail, contrasting with his eyes, sparkling that unique color of bluish green, inherited from his mother. His green long-sleeved t-shirt was crossed by a green sash, used to keep a big fan on his back._

_Lastly, a dark-skinned girl was a few steps behind her friends. Her brownish, almost orange hair was styled in two half-ponytails and her eyes were a beautiful amber color. She was big-boned, just as Chouji had been during his childhood, and she wore a pinkish dress without sleeves and a sash with yellow butterflies around her waist._

Ino was bubbling with joy. Her eyes pierced to the little boy in the wall, looking so much like her. He was beautiful “My son is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” he turned to Sai, who was also watching the screen, gears already turning in her head “Sai! You can buy me dinner later” she said, winking at him.

The boy said nothing, but nodded, putting on his best fake smile.

“And Chouji!” she turned to her longtime friend, munching on his chips like he had never tried them before “Your little girl is almost as cute as Inojin! The new ino-shika-cho will be perfect” she said dreamingly.

“Inojin?” asked Temari.

“That’s his name” Ino answered, as if it was obvious.

“They haven’t mention that” Sakura pointed.

“They don’t need to; I’ve been fantasizing about having kids since I was old enough to play with dolls. If it was a girl I would have named her Inoshi, but if I had a boy it would have been Inojin” she explained, turning her attention to the wall as soon as she was finished.

_“You little demons!” Ino yelled as soon as they stopped in front of them “Just who do you think you are, making us wait for you like that? Do you think we don’t have better things to do?”_

_Shikamaru sighed, stepping in before Ino cut off their heads “Why are you late?” he asked._

_“It was Shikadai’s fault!” two voiced in unison._

_The third sighed, but didn’t deny it. Temari chuckled._

_“Boruto made a prank during class, and I had the help him clean the mess” he explained, placing his hands in the back of his head, just as his father used to do “His mom wanted him home early, I couldn’t leave him there by himself”_

“Boruto?” asked Naruto, perking up at the mention of his future son.

“It’s just Hinata’s luck to get the hyperactive child” lamented Neji, feeling bad for his cousin.

“I can’t believe Naruto’s son inherited his dumb love for pranks” deadpanned Kiba, rolling his eyes.

“Ehhh? What’s wrong with that?” questioned Naruto, glaring at Kiba.

“Hinata, you are that kid’s only hope” Tenten threw the raven-haired girl a quick smile.

“I’m going to be Hokage!” cried Naruto “I can take care of my kid! ‘Ttebayo!”

A collective sigh was heard all over the room.

_“We should start training” proposed Sai, giving his son a knowing smile. Chouji nodded in agreement._

_“Inojin” Ino said, and her son turned to face her._

Ino smirked “Told you”

_“You have to start using the Yamanaka jutsu. Refrain from using your father’s for today” she said with a smile, poking his cheek before turning to Shikamaru “What will they start with?”_

_“Let’s being with formation two” he said to the kids “You will go against Temari and Karui”_

_“Ehhh?” cried the little girl “Mama is going to kick our ass”_

_“Mendosuke” groaned Shikadai as he retrieved the fan from his back “Mom, please go easy on us”_

_Temari snatched the fan from his hands and hit him in the head with it “Go easy on us? That’s what you will say to your enemy during a battle?” she scolded him._

“I pity that kid” scoffed Tenten “He got stuck with the strict mom”

“Hey! I can be fun” defended Temari “But my future self is right, you know. How good will it be to go easy on them if they end up getting killed during a fight against a real enemy?”

“Let’s refrain ourselves from saying things about our kids dying, please” spluttered Chouji, almost choking on his chips.

“I’m sure no one will die” Shikamaru voiced.

“Not if I have anything to do with their training” smirked Temari, already thinking of ways to make their future children suffer. For their own good of course. Maybe she could get Gaara to help, and Kankuro.

_“Let’s just begin” sighed Ino, making her way to the nearest tree big enough to cover her from the sun._

_Sai followed quickly after her, but not before giving his son a thumbs up “Remember what we trained”_

_Shikamaru and Chouji went after them, sitting under a bigger tree next to them._

_“Are we betting?” asked Chouji, already roaming through his pocket._

_“Are you really asking?” smirked Shikamaru “I give them three minutes before they call it quits”_

_“I’m saying five” informed Sai._

_“You have too much faith on them” scoffed Chouji, getting out a bag of bbq chips “Two minutes then”_

_“Are you kidding me?” scolded Ino, frowning at them “Those are your kids out there; you have that little faith in them? Mhm. Such parents you are”_

_“Are you betting or not?” asked Shikamaru._

_A slight smirk appeared on Ino’s face “Of course I am. I give them less than a minute, they are worse than us when we were genin”_

_Sai smiled, and placed a kiss on top of her head “You are such a great mother”_

_“I know”_

_Shikamaru and Chouji laughed just as Karui screamed “Begin!”_

_The screen went black._

“The next generation is brimming with youth!” cried Lee “I hope they will grow up to be friends just like us!”

Hinata nodded “I’m sure they will grow up together” she mumbled, imagining a little Boruto running after his cousin Sora, and entering the academy with her friends’ kids.

“Even Sai has kids, the future is weird” stated Naruto. No one said otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm rewatching Naruto but Sai doesnt make his appareance yet, maybe that's why is so hard for me to write him. He started off as an emotionless character, and if i recall he started to understand what emotions were about during his stay with Team 7 up untill his encounter with his older brother, which marked his change of heart. That's the way i see it, at least.  
> I never thought about him ending up with Ino, but from things i've seen on tumblr they make a nice couple, and i like Inojin, just as i like Chouchou, they're both such cute kids, i'm in love with the next ino-shika-cho, really. And don't let me get started on Shikadai because i would never end (i love him so much!!!!!!!!!!!!)  
> Anyway, i hope you liked it! See you next time!


	10. Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *drumroll* chapter ten! whoa, just five more chapters to go, time moves fast when you're having fun!  
> (If you find any mistakes i'm sorry! I didn't really have time to read this as carefully as i would like before uploading it)  
> Enjoy!

It’s just a mission, she kept telling herself. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t end up with you, what matters is that he came back, right? Is going to be fine. Well, maybe that was a lie, everything wasn’t going to be fine if they ended up on separate relationships. She had been waiting for him for _years_ , he couldn’t go back and simply ignorer again? Could he?

It was Ino who interrupted her line of though “What are you waiting for, forehead?” 

She glanced at the orb in her hand and then to the wall. It was black. Mhm, she had been distracted. She placed the orb it in the table while shaking her head. She would find out soon, hopefully.

_The black screen faded in, showing instead an older Sakura, dressed in casual clothes with lose pants and a white shirt on top. She was humming to herself in the middle of the kitchen. Said kitchen was spacious, it had an aisle in the middle and the cabinets were painted a fine white, making it look bigger than it was. She placed a pot filled with water on the stove and resumed her work with the knife._

_Voice grew louder somewhere in the house._

_“You are dumb!”_

_“I’m not!”_

_“Yes you are!”_

_“Mom!” a cry was heard all over the house._

_Sakura broke the cutting board she was slicing vegetables on “Are you kidding me?” she mumbled to herself, before cleaning her hands and walking around the counter, following the sounds._

_She found them in the last room. They were fighting over something she wasn’t aware of._

_“What’s going on here?” she asked, hands on her hips and a look on her face that said ‘this better be good’._

_“Mom” the smaller child cried. His pink hair was framing his face, and his green eyes were furrowed as he pointed at the older girl “Sarada is making fun of me! She said I would never get the sharingan!”_

“Shanaroo!” yelled Sakura, unable to contain her excitement “Take that! Ino-pig!” she smirked at Ino “ _I_ married Sasuke-kun!”

“Whatever” dismissed Ino, pretending to watch her nails “My son is cuter than both of yours”

Sakura’s eye twitched. He was not!

_Sakura glared at the girl “Sarada!” she scolded “why would you say such things to your brother?”_

_“He started it!” she whined, sticking her tongue out to him “he told me I would fail to make chunin next week!”_

_“Naoko!” she frowned at her son._

_They stared at each other, ready to start again when Sakura beat them to it “Enough! Both of you stop this. I didn’t raise two lousy children now did I?”_

_They glanced at each other and shook their heads “No, mom”_

_“That’s what I thought” she nodded, motioning for the children to sit on the bed “Sarada, you don’t have to make chunin on your first try. I certainly didn’t, nor did your father. In fact” she smirked “he was eighteen when he was made chunin” she raised a hand to let the shocked girl know she wasn’t done “And Naoko, you are only eight, you have years to awaken the sharingan, just because your father and brother did it at an early age doesn’t mean you have to. Look at Sarada, she did it only a few months ago”_

_They lowered their heads and nodded “Yes, mom” before glancing at each other and finally going in for a hug._

_She was about to go back to the kitchen after a job well done when Sarada stopped her “Did papa really made chunin until he was eighteen?” she asked._

_Sakura just couldn’t wipe the smirk off her face “Mhm” she nodded._

_“But he’s the stronger shinobi in the whole village!” Naoko crossed his arms, not ready to believe his mother just yet._

_“That’s uncle Naruto!” retorted Sarada, frowning at her little brother “Isn’t the Hokage the strongest shinobi?” she asked her mother._

_“Your father was a…late bloomer, to say something, when it comes to shinobi ranks. You can ask him when he gets home. And about the strongest shinobi in the village…Both of you are wrong” she smiled._

_“Eh?” they said in unison._

_“None of them are the strongest shinobi” she continued, already walking out of the room._

_“Then who is it mom?” little steps following her into the hallway._

_She turned around to face them “Well, it’s me, of course! Naruto and your father are like dumb and dumber, don’t let the whole god complex they have fool you”_

_Sarada frowned at her “Then how come you are not Hokage?”_

_“I was too busy taking care of you two, that’s why” she winked before continuing her way into the kitchen._

_“Well, at least if I don’t make chunin I can blame it on Boruto and Mitsuki” she heard Sarada mumble before getting out of earshot._

“Sakura-chan that’s not nice” pouted Naruto, thinking about Sakura making him look bad in front of her kids.

“Mhm. I don’t know” smirked Shikamaru, removing the cigarette from his lips “I think she’s got a point”

“Sarada and Boruto are on the same team?” asked Sakura, ignoring their conversation.

“How shocking” mocked Ino.

“Sakura-chan!” yelled Naruto, completely forgetting about his old concern “Our kids are going to kick ass just as us! ‘ttebayo!”

“ _Our_ kids are going to kick ass too” informed Ino, earning herself a nod from Chouji.

“I’m going to have kids too and they’re going to kick everyone’s ass” interrupted Kiba, not caring about his children not making an appearance yet.

“Metal-kun will surely burn brightly with youth!” exclaimed Lee.

“Sora is going to do better than all your kids, so you can stop embarrassing yourselves now” Tenten wasn’t about to let them get their hopes up.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes “Yes, yes, yes. All of your kids will kick ass” he agreed “Can we just go back to Sakura’s future?”

“He’s just jealous his children appear to be as lazy as he is” scoffed Ino “Right Sai?” she asked her future husband. She had to start working on him if she wanted him to become a more suitable partner. Said man turned to her and nodded, a fake smile once again in his lips.

“Hey!” groaned Temari, pointing her small fan at her “Those are my kids too! They will inherit some of my hardworking personality for sure!”

“Everyone shut up!” yelled Sakura, resisting the urge to punch something “I’m trying to see _my_ future here you know?”

_A teenager was sitting on the counter when she got back to the kitchen. He had dark purple hair; it was short and kept in place by the hitai-ate on his forehead. He had a smirk on his face, and his dark eyes were half closed, as if he had been laughing before Sakura entered the kitchen._

“Man, Sakura was busy” purred Kiba. Earning himself a shove from said girl.

Did she really had to go and have three kids? It seemed that Sasuke really was adamant about restoring his clan. She wasn’t complaining of course, being an only child was…lonely. But three? That was just ridiculous, how many diapers would she have to change? Ugh. Not nice.

_“Were they fighting again?” he asked while she started to roam around the cabinets in the room._

_“Of course they were” Sakura said as she pulled out a new cutting board and resumed her work “How was training?”_

_He seemed to think about it for a minute “It was good, I think. Kakashi-sama said there’s not much left for him to teach me”_

_Sakura nodded “That makes sense, he’s been teaching you for a year now”_

_“He spent half of the year reading porn, how does that qualify as training?”_

_Sakura laughed “That’s just the way he is. And I though you only wanted him to teach you the chidori?”_

“That kid looks quite the lady killer” Ino elbowed Sakura, wiggling her eyebrows “You’re going to have to scare the girls away from him”

“It’s her karma for chasing after Sasuke all this year” laughed Tenten.

It was getting really hard to ignore their comments, but Sakura had a future to see thank you very much.

_“At first, but then I discovered he’s a good sparring partner. And just how many people get to have the Rokudaime Hokage to teach them? I had to make the best of it”_

_“That’s true. Kakashi is a good sensei” she paused, apparently thinking about something “when he isn’t reading porn while doing it” she finished with a roll of her eyes._

_“I still don’t understand how he keeps beating me. Isn’t he like, fifty or something?” the kid made a move to grab a vegetable from the cut board but Sakura slapped him._

_“He was Rokudaime Hokage for a reason, Taro” she said as she poured the vegetables into the pot “You should ask your father to teach you too”_

_“He’s busy training the fabulous Team Sasuke” he scoffed._

_Sakura giggled “Is jealously what I feel coming from you? Is the grand Uchiha Taro afraid some kids are going to steal his papa?”_

_Taro flushed, but tried to hide it with a fake cough “I can’t help it! He keeps training them even though they’re all chunin and jounin now!”_

_“The only reason he doesn’t train you is because you’re as stubborn as him when something gets into your head” Sakura said, passing him five plates and motioning for him to place them down on the table “Just let that issue go and I’m sure he will agree to train you again”_

_“I don’t understand what his problem is” he said, moving onto the dinning room “He teaches them every technique he knows, but won’t do the same with me”_

_“He can’t train you the way that you want and you know it. Stop with the nonsense and ask him again once you accept his terms. Is not that hard”_

_“I… will think about it” he shrugged, placing down the plates and moving around the kitchen, searching for something._

_Sakura nodded “I have a mission tomorrow” she changed the topic “You will have to take care of the food. I’m afraid if I let Sarada or your father close to the kitchen they will burn it down”_

_Taro sighed, but nodded, not wanting to infuriate his mother “I hope they like rice”_

_The sound of a door opening stopped their conversation. Sakura’s face quickly turned into a sight to see; her eyes were glowing and her teeth were showing as she was smiling brightly._

“Forehead still has the same stupid lovey-dovey face she had when we were fresh out of the academy” mocked Ino, playfully pushing Sakura aside.

“Some things don’t change” agreed Shino.

“I’m not smiling like that!” she tried to defend herself.

“Keep it, Sakura” scoffed Tenten “You’re just embarrassing yourself”

“Whatever, Hyuga Tenten” snapped Sakura.

Tenten gasped, furrowing her eyebrows. Low blow! She pointedly ignored the boy sitting next to her, not wanting to see his reaction. Neji Hyuga was getting on her nerves without even speaking.

_Sasuke entered the room. He looked older; his hair, still shoulder-length, was covering his left eye and part of his face. His clothes consisted on black pants and a blue vest over a grey long sleeved shirt, along with a black robe. A large katana was placed on his back._

_“Sasuke-kun” greeted Sakura. Moving around the counter and placing a soft kiss on his cheek “We were just talking about you” she smirked, turning to face her son._

Sakura squealed, gripping Ino’s hand with more force than necessary “Sasuke-kun” she said dreamingly.

Beside her, Naruto was gagging, if only as a joke. He was happy to see his teammates were both healthy and inside the village, but they could keep their shows of affection to themselves.

_“What about me?” he asked, in his usual serious tone._

_“I believe your son wanted to reach an agreement?” she trailed off, wiggling her eyebrows at Taro._

_The teenager moved around uncomfortably. He passed them and started placing chopsticks along the plates “I was thinking… that you could teach me how to awaken the Mangyekou Sharingan. But wait!” he raised his hand before Sasuke could speak “It’s been months since we last talked about it! I’m ready now”_

_Sasuke frowned, moving away from Sakura and reaching for his son’s forehead, poking him before giving him a slight smile “I don’t think so, Taro”_

_Said boy opened his eyes in surprise, and then frowned “Why not?” he asked, pointing an accusatory finger at him “You go around teaching your students things they shouldn’t know at their ages. Why not me? I’m your son you know! The Mangekyo is my right as an Uchiha!”_

_“That’s different” Sasuke grumbled, removing his cape and placing it on one of the chairs “They don’t keep bugging me about teaching them techniques they know nothing about”_

_“Because they don’t have the sharingan!” he ranted, throwing his hands in the air “But I do! Why won’t you teach me?”_

_“Because the Mangekyo comes with great sacrifices! Sacrifices I regret making and don’t wish for you to do the same. You don’t need it. Your sharingan is enough to accomplish everything you want as a shinobi”_

_“Sacrifices? I’m willing to make them! Just tell me what to do!” he pleaded, looking at his father in a way that showed it was true._

_Sasuke sighed, and Sakura placed a comforting hand on his back. He reached for her free hand and give it a squeeze “Eat without us, I’m going to take Taro for a walk”_

_Sakura smiled “I will leave something for you two in the oven” then turned to her eldest son “Listen to your father” she said with a menacing look on her face “He knows what he’s talking about”_

_Said boy gulped, and followed her father outside._

_“He just had to go and be just like his father” Sakura rolled her eyes to herself before calling her children for dinner._

_The screen went black._

“Good to know the Uchiha kept being as cryptid as ever” scoffed Kiba, going to lay on the floor, resting his head on Akamaru’s body.

“I can’t believe Sasuke is kind of a decent dad” frowned Naruto, questioning the state of his mental health.

“They look…happy” shrugged Hinata, not knowing what else to say.

“Of course we look _happy_! Why wouldn’t we?” questioned Sakura, placing her hands on her hips.

“Sasuke seems like a good sensei” interrupted Temari, trying to avoid the fight that could take place if they didn’t do something “At least our kids will learn stuff”

“Let’s just hope they don’t learn his love for revenge” finished Neji.

To that, Sakura had nothing to say about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And..that's it. The glimpse Sakura got about her future. What did you think? You know i love to hear it, just as i love rambling about stuff here lmao.  
> Sasuke is not my favorite character, but I think Kishimoto kind of messed him up in the Boruto series. If he was going to make him a dad, then why would he make him go travel around the world for I don't know how many years and then when he finally returns to Konoha, all he does is spend time with Boruto? I don't like that! I think Sasuke could be a great dad, because he got a shitty one himself! All he wanted as a kid was his father attention and approval, so why would he do the same thing his father did to him, to Sarada? It makes no sense to me. So yeah, I think he could do better.  
> The problem Taro had with his dad? He wanted to know how to get the Mangekyo and Sasuke refused to tell him, leading to a point where they couldn't train anymore without getting into an argument, which lead to this scene. I think Sakura would understand him, and that's why she pushes Taro to speak to him and get over their differences.  
> About the kids' appearances, mhm, since Sarada is all Sasuke I wanted to give them kids that looked like her too. Thus Taro has a mix of his parents' hair (purple) with his father's eyes and little Naoko is all his mother (how cute *sobs*).  
> I hope you liked it! See you next time!


	11. Heritage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reached a new level of procrastination... I was reading other stuff instead of reading the chapter to finally upload it omg i hate myself... Anyway, I leave you with the next chapter while I go to sleep... at 4:01 am (send help)

Reluctantly, Shikamaru got up from the floor and made his way to the orb. He had already seen more than enough. He married Temari, had two kids; a girl and then a boy and lived enough to become not only a jonin but also the Hokage advisor, just as his dad probably wanted him to. How troublesome, why didn’t he stick to his original plan?

He left out an exasperated sigh and grabbed the orb.

_Shikamaru had a worried look on his face. He was standing on the Hokage booth next to Naruto’s chair. To his left, Gaara was sitting down while Kankuro stood beside him, such as Shikamaru was doing._

“Hey, my baby brothers again” smiled Temari, glad to know they went on to live long lives, just as she hoped.

Shikamaru tilted his head “Isn’t that the arena back in Suna?” he asked Temari, he could recall from the time they held the chunin exams back in the Land of Wind.

Temari nodded just now noticing what he was talking about “Seems like we are holding them again”

_Shikamaru’s eyes roamed through the arena, it was mostly sand covering the ground, along with a few ruins around it. A Suna jonin he didn’t recognize was standing in the middle of it, a single paper on his hands. He glanced around before taking a step forward._

_“The next fight” he announced, reading the sheet “Fujita Toshiro and Nara Shikaru”_

_A few cheers were heard from the crowd. Around him, the Suna and Konoha parties shared knowing smiles._

_Back in the arena, Shikaru was slowly walking to where the proctor was standing; her golden hair was tied into a half ponytail, different from the traditional Nara style but still making her look like a pineapple. She was sporting black pants with a yellow blouse with the Nara and Kazekage clan symbols plastered on each sleeve. And just like Gaara had worn during his genin days, a big gourd was hanging from Shikaru’s back, kept in place by a brown leather band rounding her waist with straps going from the gourd over her shoulders and into the leather band._

“Why is she wearing a gourd like Gaara?” asked Chouji.

“I…don’t know” mumbled Shikamaru.

Temari, on the other hand, had an idea, but she wasn’t sure yet.

_From the other side of the arena an older boy was making his way to the center, just like Shikaru. He looked around thirteen and had a serious look on his face. His hitai-ate showed he was from Kumogakure. A black bodysuit covered his body, and a long katana was placed on his back, half covered by his long white hair._

“He looks…” drawled Ino.

“Like a young man bubbling with youth!” finished Lee.

“I was going to say scary” corrected the kunoichi.

“And she looks so small” frowned Sakura, eyeing the little girl on the screen. She didn’t look like that when she was twelve, right?

_The proctor began the match and got out of the way._

_“I really don’t like hitting younger girls” the Kumo boy said out loud, reaching into his leg holster._

_Shikamaru frowned from his place. He didn’t know anything about the kid, and he knew his daughter could take care of herself, but he was still her dad, and he was worried._

“That little shit!” growled Temari, gripping the small fan on her hand “She better kick his ass”

_“You won’t need to” Shikaru smiled. The plug of her gourd flew across the battle field, landing almost at the edge of the arena, where tall walls emerged from the ground, protecting the spectators._

“Someone inherited her mother’s temper” Tenten was smirking, the look on Shikaru’s face bringing back memories from her past.

_“She will be ok” Gaara said, trying to calm him down._

_He hadn’t known his nervousness was showing “I know” he lied._

_“I trained her, and so did you” Gaara tried again._

_“Don’t forget me” interrupted Kankuro._

_“She will be fine Shikamaru!” grinned Naruto, also meddling into the conversation “That kid could probably kick your ass”_

“I give good advice!” grinned Naruto, admiring his older self “Just as a Hokage should, you see!”

_To their right, the Raikage laughed “I like you all” he said, removing his robe to show his muscular body “but there’s no way your kid will be able to defeat Toshiro. He is one of our best genin, the only reason he didn’t took the exam as soon as he got out of the academy is because his teammates weren’t ready”_

_Shikamaru’s brows furrowed even more, if that was even possible._

_He turned his eyes to the field just as the Kumo kid, Toshiro, threw a few shuriken at her daughter. Shikaru’s hand raised, and golden sand left the gourd on her back, flying around and covering her from the attack. The kid tried again, this time running around her and attacking from different angles, having the same result._

_Shikaru smirked, not bothering to move around._

_“Stop smirking and do something! This isn’t even a fun fight!” the kid yelled at her._

_“I would do something if you actually made something worthy of my energy!” she retorted, but moved to face him._

“She’s like Gaara!” urged Naruto, absorbing the sight in front of him.

“No shit, Sherlock” deadpanned Kiba. Akamaru barking in agreement.

“H-how is she capable of doing that?” asked Hinata, eyes fixed on the wall.

“I think…she inherited my family’s kekkei genkai” Temari was surprised, to say the least, after not inheriting it herself, she had though it would be impossible to pass it onto her children.

“Magnet release?” Shikamaru asked. They had talked about it, during one of her trips to Konoha.

She nodded, fanning herself again “She’s got my father’s jutsu. Golden Dust”

_The kid made a series of hand signs and lightning erupted from his hands, going directly into Shikaru’s chest. She leaped, instead of relying on her sand, and twisted around at the same time as sand spikes launched towards the boy, who successfully dodged them by leaping into one of the ruins scattered around the arena._

_When the boy emerged back, there were two of him, he had created a clone and was now running in two different directions. She grabbed two kunai from her leg holder and threw them in the directions they were coming. They both disappeared at the touch._

Shikamaru frowned, where was the real kid?

From the floor in front of him, he heard Kiba mumbling something along the lines of ‘I’m having serious throwbacks with this’ but he was too busy trying to figure out if his future daughter was in trouble.

_The boy appeared from the same ruins he had gotten into a few minutes ago and a water jutsu was performed. Shikaru’s golden sand rushed to protect her, covering her front with what appeared to be a sand wall, stopping the water from getting to her. The sand got wet, and slowly started to crumble apart._

_The boy smirked “I’m sorry” he said “Did I mess up with your sparkly sand?”_

_He performed a few hand signs and lightning formed again. He sent it Shikaru’s way, and this time, it hit her right in her chest. The sand lying lifeless on the ground._

_Shikamaru was about to leap from the tower when he saw Shikaru disappear in a puff of smoke, her gourd standing where she had been before. A substitution jutsu._

_A growl was heard from the boy. He was standing still, the smirk no longer on his face, replaced by a confused look. “W-what’s this?” he asked, trying to lower his head to the ground._

_Shikamaru smirked, understanding what was going on, just as Shikaru appeared from the same ruins the boy had been minutes ago “The thing about overconfident brats like you, is that they tend to forget I’m not only from the Kazekage clan, I’m also a Nara” she smirked “Kagemane no Jutsu, complete” she began to walk into the boy’s direction, just as Toshiro did the same, closing the distance between them._

“Now that’s what a Nara would do” approved Shikamaru.

Temari was smirking behind him “Mhm” she mumbled “Seems like our kids aren’t as useless as you were at that age”

_“And another thing” she said as they stopped in front of the other “next time you go around trying to ruin my sand, make sure you’re not fighting in the middle of the dessert” she bent down, Toshiro copying her, and touched the sand, which quickly took on a golden color. Sand hurled upon the boy, covering him like a cocoon, and the Kagemane jutsu was released “Surrender” she said “I would rather not use my uncle’s jutsu”_

_The kid frowned at her, pondered for a few seconds and ended up doing as he was told._

_“The winner of this encounter” the proctor announced “Nara Shikaru!”_

_Cheers erupted from the crowd just as Shikamaru throwed his fist into the air “Yes!”, Kankuro shoot him a funny look but ended up fist bumping him, a smirk on his face._

_“That’s my daughter!” a loud scream was heard from the stands._

_“WAY TO GO SHIKARU-CHAN!” another voice screamed, this time from the competitors’ booth._

_“Shikaru-neesan!” a high-pitched voice continued._

“She’s powerful” informed Shino.

“It was to be expected, seeing who her parents are” agreed Neji.

_Shikamaru was walking down the Hokage booth, hurrying down the stairs and into the participants booth._

_As he walked in, Sasuke could be seen ruffling Shikaru’s hair just as Sora and Yukio hugged the life out of her._

_“Karu-chan you were amazing!” the mini-Kakashi was saying, listing all the things the Nara girl had done during her fight._

_“We are_ so _becoming chunin after our next fights, right sensei?” Sora was saying, clapping her hands as she looked at her sensei with hopeful eyes._

_Sasuke smirked, lifting his hand to place it in the girls’ shoulder “Let’s not think about becoming chunin now. You three need to focus on your next fights, this was just your first encounter” he pointed at the rest of the genin standing near the balcony “As much as they are your rivals, don’t forget you three may need to fight each other during the finals”_

_“I’d rather forfeit than go against them!” Yukio was shaking his head, promptly ignoring the raised eyebrow Sasuke was sporting._

_“I’m sure your mother would love to hear that”_

_Fear filled Yukio’s face. His eyes were widely open and a grimace made its way in there too “You wouldn’t!” the boy cried._

_“I will if you keep saying that stuff” he stiffened his grip on the katana placed on his back “Listen up, team nine. You three didn’t pass my tests and constant survival training just to forfeit because you’ve to fight your teammate. I didn’t train you to be any less than top-tier shinobi”_

“I can’t believe what I’m about to say” remarked Tenten “but Sasuke actually seems like a good sensei”

“He doesn’t seem like himself at all” commented Shikamaru, crossing his legs.

“A bit scary. If you ask me” mumbled Chouji

_Shikamaru coughed, making his presence known, although he suspected Sasuke had known about it since he stepped behind the door. The kids turned around and Shikaru smiled at him “Otosan!” she began “Did you see it? I totally kicked his ass!”_

_Shikamaru refused the need to smile, instead frowning “Language” he reminded her “If your mother hears you talking like that she’s going to kick_ my _ass”_

“She’s got him wrapped around her pinky” giggled Ino.

“He’s whipped” agreed Chouji, smirking at his friend.

“Well what did you expect?” scoffed Temari, batting her eyelashes “Have you seen me?”

Shikamaru blushed, eyeing the girl from the corner of his eye. Man, he was in trouble.

_The girl giggled “Yes, Otosan. What did you think? Did I impress you?”_

_“I was blown away; I could never pull that off”_

_“You are joking!” she accused, pointing a finger at him._

_He smiled at her and lifted his head, facing Sasuke “Can I take her for a moment? I’m sure Temari will want to see her and give her a few tips before her next fight”_

_Sasuke nodded, before pushing the boys back to the balcony of the booth “"Pay attention in case you end up fighting one of them” he was telling the kids._

_“I heard mom cheering for me from the crowd” Shikaru smiled, following her dad down the stairs._

_“I’m sure the whole arena heard her, and your brother” Shikamaru scoffed, placing a cigarette between his lips._

_“Mom said you had to quit smoking” she reminded him, placing her hands on her hips “Smoke is bad for your lungs”_

_Shikamaru sighed “Mendosuke” he whispered, tossing the cigarette aside “You’re too much like your mother”_

_The screen went black._

Temari smirked. A job well done raising her kids.

“Mendosuke” whispered Shikamaru, letting his head fall into his hands.

“Are we sure that’s Sasuke-teme?” shrugged Naruto, even him was having trouble believing it. 

“He looks so… relaxed?” a shiver ran down Kiba’s spine. Just thinking about the time Sasuke fled the village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, i'm sorry about the lame fight scene (i'm deeply embarassed lol) but it was my first time writing one and damn! those things are fucking hard to write, even more when you're a shitty writer like me heh, but i just couldnt change it, i wanted there to be a fight scene, so yeah, i'm deeply sorry about that.  
> There is the reason Shikaru doesn't have a tessen! She inherited the kekkei genkai from the Kazekage family (although i'm not sure if it is a kekkei genkai, since some pages said it was a technique learned by the third kazekage, but Rasa had it, and Gaara too (even if it was in some part from the shukaku) so yeah, i decided to use it as a kekkei genkai). The reason i did it was because i didn't want Shikaru and Shikadai to have the same abilities, but for each of them to have a specialty where they exceed apart from the Kagemane.  
> I hope my portrayal of Sasuke wasnt too OOC, i watched some clips of him teaching Boruto and he seems like a decent teacher? i was surprised lol i was under the impression he would be a bad one, since they made him a bad dad (just kishimoto things i guess) which only infuriated me more about him being an absent father.  
> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think :)


	12. Traditions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drumroll please! Here comes the *insert lady gaga meme* talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing... Shino Aburame!  
> Please enjoy, my friends!

Shino’s mind was not as blank as he would have liked. He had no emotions concerning the mission, nor did he expect anything out of the ordinary from his future, but for some reason, his body didn’t feel the same way. As soon as the screen turned black, meaning Shikamaru’s vision was over, his body moved without his control, and suddenly, he was in front of the orb.

Seeing no reason to delay the moment even more, he reached for the orb, glanced at the empty wall in front of him, and placed it back on the table, before walking back to his seat.

“Man this better be good” drawled Ino, leaning back on Chouji’s legs.

“We have known Shino for about ten years but we still know nothing about him” agreed Sakura “I almost feel I met him this year, just like Sai”

Said man didn’t say anything. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t really tell them much.

_An older Shino was searching through his fridge, getting out all kinds of stuff, before returning what he didn’t need and making his way to his backyard. Large tables were placed on one side, while a beautiful woman was grilling meat on the other side, a huge table stood beside her, where all kind of foods were placed. One could spot dango and BBQ ribs, among other things._

_“You shouldn’t be exerting yourself” he said as he spotted her, and after laying down the stuff he was carrying on the nearest table, he made his way to her, placing a hand on her back and placing a soft kiss on her head “Let me do it” he mumbled, gently moving her aside and taking over what she was doing._

“That’s Shino?” yelled Naruto, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing.

Chouji had stopped eating chips, and Hinata’s eyes were glued to the screen.

“He looks so soft” Ino’s mouth was hanging open.

_He had been working for a few moments when the bell rang. He watched as the woman went to answer. Leaving him alone in the yard. Kiba wandered in a few moments later, a much older Akamaru, carrying a cat on his back, and a little puppy were accompanying him. In his arms, a little girl with brown hair and the usual Inuzuka tattoos, was pointing at different places and speaking in the same way little kids do “A tree! Uncle Shino! Food!” she was squealing._

_“Yo! Shino! How is it going? Are we early or something?” Kiba was wearing his usual black pants, along with a grey short-sleeved t-shirt. His canines were showing as he greeted his friend._

_Shino glanced at his watch “You are on time. I’m glad you could make it”_

_“Of course! Wouldn’t miss the introduction for the world”_

_“Kiba-kun!” came a voice from inside. A beautiful woman in her late twenties came rushing from the house. Her brown shoulder-length hair matched her eyes._

_Kiba turned to face her “I’m here, Tamaki”_

_“I just met baby Reiko, he’s perfect! I want another one” she pouted, placing her hand on Kiba’s face._

_Kiba laughed “We can think about it once Hikari-chan is old enough to be left alone”_

_The little girl smiled, waving her little hands “I’m Hikari!”_

_Tamaki cooed “Of course you are, baby” removing her from Kiba’s grip and instead placing Hikari on her hip, an arm around her little body. She turned to Shino “Oh Shino! It’s so good to see you! Your son is perfect, I can’t wait for him and Hikari to be best friends!”_

_Shino smiled, he was wearing his usual glasses, but his old jacket was nowhere to be seen, instead replaced by a light beige long-sleeved t-shirt “I’m sure they will get along well”_

_The bell rang again._

“Man, my girlfriend looks amazing” Kiba let out a whistle. Akamaru barked in agreement “And I can already see my daughter kicking ass”

“You like cats?” Tenten asked, pointing at the sleeping cat on Akamaru’s back.

Kiba scrunched his nose, shaking his head.

“It must be love then, if she likes cats and you agreed to put up with them” she continued.

Akamaru let out a whimper, apparently not agreeing with her.

“I don’t see your future self complaining, buddy” Kiba nudged his dog.

_Neji and Tenten wandered into the backyard. A little girl running in front of them, quickly making her way to the dogs._

_“Shino!” greeted Tenten “Sachiko looks so good; I can’t believe she gave birth two weeks ago. I remember feeling like a living corpse during the first month after having Sora”_

_“That’s what I was thinking!” agreed Tamaki, going to hug the new visitors._

_“She did this before” reminded Shino “she knew what to do and what not”_

_“Where is that little monster anyway?” asked Kiba “I’m surprised she isn’t following you around like usual”_

_“It appears I’m no longer Noriko’s favorite. She hasn’t left her brother’s side since he arrived” Shino sighed._

“What are we doing at your house?” wondered Kiba.

“Ah” nodded Shino “It appears I became a father” Shino informed his companions.

“We noticed” agreed Sakura “but why are they there, and why does it look like a party?”

Shino thought of the best way to explain what was going on “We, the Aburame clan, have this…tradition, every time a baby is born and infested with our clan insects, we introduce them to our closest friends”

Ino shivered “I hate when you talk about your bugs”

“It’s only natural for us Aburame to talk about our jutsu” explained Shino.

“Hey!” cried Naruto “That’s me! And Hinata-chan!” he was pointing excitedly at the screen.

_“How is the Hokage job going?” was asking Neji, now sitting in one of the tables placed along the backyard._

_Naruto shrugged “I hate to say this, but Shikamaru and Kakashi-sensei were right. This job is kind of a drag!”_

_Neji laughed “Spending so much time with Shikamaru is getting to you”_

_“I want to go on missions, I never though being Hokage meant doing paperwork all day. Now I know why Tsunade-baachan was drinking sake all day”_

_Hinata was making her way to them, placing a plate with chips in the table “Naruto-kun, stop complaining about your job. This is a welcoming party, you’re not supposed to talk about job” she scolded him._

_“I’m sorry, Hinata-chan” the blond pouted._

_“Neji!” Tenten yelled from the other side of the yard “Your daughter keeps climbing the tree instead of playing around like a normal kid, it’s your turn to stop her”_

_“Mom!” the little girl cried “how am I supposed to get stronger if you don’t let me train?”_

_Tenten rolled her eyes “It’s sunday, Sora. I’m sure you will be ok if you don’t train for a day”_

_Neji sighed, getting up from his chair “I’m going to make sure my wife and daughter don’t kill each other. Excuse me”_

“It appears my beloved teammates got married in the end!” cried Lee “Gai-sensei will be happy to hear this!”

Tenten was as red as a tomato. Her future self was hurrying Neji while Sora tried to get out of her grip.

“They look cute” pointed Temari, while future Neji placed a hand on his wife’s back and promised her daughter to train her later.

Ino cooed “But look who is here! Inojin is even cuter as a toddler!” she cried.

_Shino greeted Ino and Sai by the door, a small Inojin standing between them, carrying a stash of paper and ink._

_“I brought enough for everyone” the boy stated with a smile once Shino had asked about it._

_Behind them, the Akimichi family stood smiling, Karui had a casserole in her hands while Chouji carried a smaller Chocho in his shoulders, while an older girl stood beside him, grabbing Chouji’s hand._

_“Welcome” Shino greeted, allowing them to pass._

_“Shino-sensei!” greeted the older Akimichi girl, she had red hair as her mother, along with her dark skin, but her dark eyes came from Chouji, same as the spirals on her cheeks._

_“Chojiro” greeted Shino “Have you been practicing your taijutsu? I believe you promised last time during practice in the academy”_

_The girl nodded “Dad is been helping me!” she said proudly._

_“Good” he nodded while pointing to the backdoor “Everyone is in the backyard; you can make your way there. I will be out in a minute”_

“I have two daughters?” choked Chouji, eyes watering.

“Shino works at the academy?” Kiba raised an eyebrow.

“It appears so” Shino nodded.

“Who would have thought?” mumbled Neji “We grew up to have families. I didn’t think we would live that far”

“Everything seems so pacific” Shikamaru pointed out “I’m having trouble believing it. After everything that’s going on with the Akatsuki, is it possible that we end up like that?”

“We will have to work hard to achieve that future” Shino whispered, watching himself in the wall.

“I’m going to train even harder now!” exclaimed Naruto, throwing his fist in the air “We will kick the ass of the Akatsuki and become jonin and then Hokage! Dattebayo!”

“I'm sure we will get there eventually” affirmed Hinata, and this time, her cheeks didn’t turn pink.

_Sachiko left the house with a small baby in her arms. Her long, orange hair cascaded down her back, and a light pink dress covered her figure. Her piercing brown eyes were focused on her son. Next to her, and older girl with her mother’s hair stood proudly with her hands on her hips. Her eyes were covered by glasses and she sported a green jacket with the Aburame symbol on the sleeve._

_Somewhere along the way the Nara and Uchiha families had arrived, along with Lee and his son. Everyone was talking and the kids were playing, running around the yard. Shino could spot Chojiro and Taro, along with Sora and Shikaru chasing the cat that until moments before, had been sleeping on Akamaru’s back “It’s a mission!” Shikaru had say when Temari asked them about it. The smaller kids were playing around with some of Sai’s drawings, he was starting to look bored but one look from Ino was enough to make him go back to work._

_Shino coughed, gaining everyone’s attention. He spotted Sakura, carrying a baby on her arms, just as small as the one is Sachiko’s._

_“It’s our honor” he began as Sachiko arrived to his side “To present to you the newest addition of the Aburame clan” his wife passed him the baby, now free of the blanket that was engulfing him moments before. He turned the baby to his friends “This is Aburame Reiko, our son” he said proudly._

“Ehhhhhh?” cried Naruto at the same time his older self did the same.

“He has blue eyes!” squealed Ino “How is that possible?”

_Everyone in the room was glancing between the baby and Naruto, they had the same eyes, although the baby lacked the whiskers on his cheeks and had black hair._

_Sachiko laughed, a loud laugh that filled the air and soon had everyone else doing the same. Next to her, Shino was smirking._

_“You should have seen your faces!” Sachiko scoffed, placing a hand on her chest._

_“Hey! I know what you’re thinking! I would never do that!” cried Naruto._

_“No one was thinking that, Naruto-kun” informed Hinata, placing a hand on her husband’s arm._

_“But how did the baby end up with those eyes?” questioned Karui, slapping Chouji’s hand away from the food._

_Sachiko was the one to answer “Shino has blue eyes”_

Everyone was eyeing Shino, who was too busy watching the screen to notice.

“Shino! You have blue eyes?” questioned Naruto, suddenly invading Shino’s space.

He nodded “I have, in fact” when he made no move it was Tenten who spoke.

“Well then” she said “Show us!”

Shino removed his eyes from the wall, finally facing them “No”

“No?” cried Kiba “What do you mean no?”

“I mean no, as in, I can’t, my eyes are hidden for a reason, I can’t go around showing them just like that”

“Why not?” Temari questioned, she wasn’t even close to him but just as everyone around the room she was eager to see.

“It’s a family matter. Only babies from our clan are allowed to show their eyes”

“But your wife doesn’t wear glasses!” accused Naruto.

“She’s obviously not an Aburame by blood, she just married me” he explained.

_Sachiko was now animatedly talking to Sakura, probably sharing baby tips, and Noriko had decided to join the other kids. Shino decided to join Lee, who had arrived not long ago, profusely apologizing about being late. He was talking to Neji and Sasuke._

_He nodded at them before asking Lee if they could talk._

_“What is that you need, Shino-kun?” the man asked him, big eyebrows furrowed in curiosity. They were in the middle of Shino’s living room, away from the noise._

_“I need to ask you a favor” the man started “I want you to train Noriko in taijutsu”_

_Lee’s mouth opened in surprise, but quickly changed into a smile, full teeth showing “Of course, Shino-kun! I will be honored to train such little bundle of joy!”_

_“Thank you” he said, relief filling his voice “She’s obsessed with becoming a kunoichi, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to help her with it”_

_“Don’t worry, Shino-kun, I will make sure to pass onto her all the knowledge Gai-sensei passed onto me when we were younger!” he assured his friend, giving him his best Rock Lee pose._

_Shino nodded, and was about to walk away when he remembered something “Just…don’t make her wear that green jumpsuit”_

_Lee pouted._

“Yosh! I need to keep training! Little Noriko-chan will need a strong sensei in order to become a fine shinobi!” beamed Lee, excited to know he would one day become someone’s teacher.

Shino on the other hand was…worried. What had his older self been thinking?

“I’m sure your daughter will be fine, Shino-kun” tried Hinata, sensing the worry coming from her teammate.

“At least he stopped him from making her wear those green spandex” approved Ino.

“Spandex are the ultimate form of comfort and aerodynamism!” cried Lee.

“Spandex are ugly” smiled Sai. Lifting his gaze from his notebook.

Lee furrowed his eyebrows, but was unable to come out with a comeback.

_“Papa!” Noriko ran through the backdoor, little hands holding a piece of paper._

_Shino put down the bowl of meat on the table and kneeled down to meet his daughter “What is it, Noriko?”_

_“This is for you” she smiled sheepishly, handing him the paper and waiting for him to open the folded piece._

_As Shino opened it, a doodle of their family made its appearance. Shino’s bugs engulfed the little family of four; he was carrying Noriko on his shoulders while Sachiko carried baby Reiko on her arms. It was a rather nice drawing for such a small kid._

_A smile graced Shino’s face, and he grabbed Noriko’s hand and made his way to the fridge, where he pinned the drawing “This way everyone will be able to praise the artist”_

_On their way out of the house, Shino mumbled to her “I’m going to cherish it forever”_

“Shino-kun, you’re a great dad” Hinata was smiling to her teammate.

“I reckon I’m good with kids, but I never thought of myself as a teacher, or father” he kept his serious look, but his eyes had wrinkles around them, betraying him ꟷnot that anyone could see it.

“Maybe you got tired of ANBU” Chouji shrugged.

“I don’t recall ever seeing Sachiko around here” Ino pursed her lips, thinking about the kunoichi she had seen around lately.

“Maybe she’s a foreigner” pointed Temari, it seemed like a reasonable option from her point of view, seeing who she ended up marrying. And Chouji too.

“I haven’t seen Kiba’s girlfriend either” Sakura informed, trying to put her hair in a ponytail.

“They could be civilians” Hinata mumbled, failing the recall the faces she often saw on the civilian district.

“We’ll find out later. Let’s just move on, it’s getting late” interrupted Neji.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hit me! I'm not sure what to say about this one. For starters, I'm sorry if you don't like OC's, but Shino was...a complicated one. He's a mysterious one, as we've seen trought the whole show, but idk, it didn't sit right with me, the fact the even during his adulthood people kept forgetting about him. I'm sure Kishimoto didn't give him a family just because it included having to create even more characters. I'm sorry if you liked the idea of him being the group's bachelor, but in this house we give everyone a family and no one gets to live the lonely life (which is funny since i don't want to get married, like, ever).  
> Let's clear things a bit, since kids keep popping out of nowhere heh. Noriko is not Shino's daughter, she was born before he met Sachiko, that's why he asks Lee to train her to be a kunoichi, since she can't get the Aburame bugs now. Noriko loves Shino, we can see it in the way she calls him dad and tries to imitate his clothing style and the glasses. I'll probably try to continue their little story in the sequel (spoiler alert: Sachiko is a civilian teacher and doesn't mind carrying the whole conversation on her own, which is a relief to our quiet boy Shino).  
> And Chojiro is Chocho's older sister, she's the same age as Taro, SasuSaku's oldest child! (are you getting confussed with their ages? Let me know so i can clear things up please!)  
> Anyway, what did you think? Shino is another difficult character to write, especially since we see so little of him through the series, but i like him, he had so much potential. About the blue eyes, idk, it seemed funny lol, since we didn’t get to see his eyes i decided to give him my own touch :)   
> Come scream at me on tumblr if you want to: happy-shinee


	13. Marriage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the princess!

“Why you all looking at me?” Temari asked, frowning at the way all eyes were on her.

“It’s your turn” explained Neji.

“My turn? I don’t know what you’re talking about” she scoffed “this isn’t my mission. I’m just here because Shikamaru kept saying Tsunade would break his wrist if she found out he had left me out of his sight”

“You already saw everyone’s future. Is only fair for you to show us yours” pointed Shino.

“It’s not like you have a lot to hide. We already know you marry Shikamaru and have kids” shrugged Ino.

Temari tried to find a flaw on their logic, she really didn’t want to give it a try, she had already opened up to them more than enough. Sadly, she couldn’t find a good enough reason for them to agree on.

“Let’s just get this over with” the blond kunoichi mumbled as she made her way through the room.

_Temari was making her way down the road to Konoha. Her golden hair was styled in two ponytails instead of four, and her outfit had changed: instead of her black kimono she wore a purple long sleeved blouse under a grey top, along with a blue skirt parted in the middle. Her fan was still placed on her back, and she had the same air of superiority emanating from her._

_As she reached the Konoha gates she could pinpoint a long figure standing against one of the pillars, and a small girl was running around in front of him._

“There’s that kid again!” pointed Ino “Shikamaru, are you secretly dating some girl right now? You can’t be older than twenty and that kid is easily three!”

Shikamaru frowned “What are you talking about, woman? I’m not dating anyone!”

Temari hit him with her small fan “You better not go around getting woman pregnant!” her older self wouldn’t have married him if that was the case, right? She wouldn’t.

He flinched “Troublesome woman I’m not!”

_She smirked as she reached the gates “Who would have thought paternity would make you more of a man”_

_Shikamaru put down the rock he had confiscated from the kid and stood up “Don’t go around saying that” he frowned._

_“Why not? You’re practically her father” she smiled, removing the fan from her back and stretching her limbs._

_“I’m not” he retorted “I’m just her favorite uncle” he smiled to the little girl that was now eyeing Temari with surprised eyes “Right, Mirai-chan?”_

_The girl closed in, stopping in front of Temari “You’re pretty” she told Temari._

_Temari smiled, kneeling down in front of the kid “Well thank you” she said, removing the bangs from the girl’s eyes and rearranging her hair in a cute ponytail with the hair tie on her wrist “You are incredible perceptive for a three year old. I’m Temari” she ruffled the girl’s hair “We met when you were barely one, remember?”_

“She has Kurenai-sensei’s eyes!” gasped Kiba, pointing at the now visible eyes of the little kid.

“Shikamaru!” accused Naruto “Did you have sex with Kurenai-sensei?” his eyes were about to pop out of its place.

Sakura rolled her eyes and slapped him, hard, on the back of his head “I can’t even believe you’re suggesting that”

“Sakura-chan!” the blond cried, rubbing the sore spot “It was just a question!”

“A stupid one” sighed Neji, rolling his eyes.

_The girl shook her head “Are you Shikamaru-niisan girlfriend?”_

_“You could say that. How else would he be kept on his toes if it weren’t for me?”_

_“Yeah, yeah. We have been waiting for you quite some time now. Are you tired?” he asked her, starting to walk back to the village and motioning for the them to go with him._

_“A bit. I’m more hungry than tired. Are you on babysitting duty then?”_

_Shikamaru nodded “Kurenai-sensei had a mission and asked me to take care of her. She will be back in a few hours”_

_“Well then, Mirai-chan” she said to the girl, placing the fan on her back “Shall we make Shikamaru buy us some BBQ ribs?”_

_The girl giggled “I’m hungry!”_

_“Say no more” she smirked, changing the direction they were going._

_Little Mirai ran after her, while Shikamaru was left alone standing in the middle of the street “Mendosuke” he sighed._

_“Shikamaru-niisan!” Mirai cried, waving at him a few meters ahead._

“Asuma-sensei’s daughter is beautiful” Ino was tearing up while Sakura hugged her.

“She is” sobbed Chouji, who was, as his teammate, crying. Hinata placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sure he will be watching her from afar” she smiled at him.

“Asuma was a fine shinobi, just as Kurenai-sensei is” nodded Shino “I’m sure Mirai will grow up to be a fine shinobi herself, she has six older siblings to look up to”

“We are going to teach her everything we know, right Akamaru?” smirked Kiba “And _we_ will be her favorite niisan” he added with disdain.

“Well” Temari elbowed Shikamaru, pointing at Kiba “Aren’t you going to defend your honor?

The Nara heir shook his head “It doesn’t make sense to discuss about stuff that hasn’t even happened yet” he leaned back onto Temari’s legs. She blinked, but didn’t move him. “Besides” he continued “Our futures selves already stablished I’m a baby whisperer, which means they don’t stand a chance against me”

“It was Kakashi and Naruto, are you really going to trust them?” scoffed Ino.

“They will be Rokudaime and Nanadaime Hokage, respectively” reminded Sai, smiling at Ino.

“Kakashi-sensei is a pervert, _and_ Naruto is as stupid as a donkey” Said Sakura, siding with her friend.

“Hey!” cried Naruto “I’m not _that_ stupid!”

“Point proven” smirked Sakura, high-fiving with Ino.

Temari rolled her eyes “Just shut up. As you all insisted on watching my future, I may as well try to figure out if this crybaby is boyfriend material or my future self suffered from a concussion during a mission and thus, ended up marrying this weakling”

“I made chunin before you, remember?” Shikamaru tried to defend himself.

“Yeah, and I went and made jonin _long_ before you” she winked at him.

_Mirai was telling Temari all about her day when they arrived at team 10’s favorite restaurant. Shikamaru opened the door for the girls as they walked in._

_A waitress approached them “Good afternoon” the middle-aged woman greeted them with a smile “Table for three?”_

_Temari nodded “please”_

_They followed her into one of the booths by the window when Mirai pointed to the other side of the restaurant “Ino-neesan” she smiled, waving her little hand to gain the blonde’s attention._

_Ino looked up from her plated and smiled at them “Mirai-chan! Temari-san!” she greeted. In front of her, Sai was preparing the meat._

“Beautiful as ever” mumbled Ino as she waved her hair around.

“You are on a date with Sai” Kiba elbowed her, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Lucky him, right?” she winked at him.

_“No need to greet me, Ino” Shikamaru mumbled once they reached their table. The waitress seemed to notice they had found some friends and left, since she was nowhere to be seen._

_“Shut up. I see you almost every day” the blonde scoffed “Temari-san when did you get here?”_

_“Just now. I was hungry so we decided to come here” said Temari at the same time Mirai greeted Sai, who smiled in return._

_“Sit with us” Ino got up the table and went to sit next to Sai, who gave the couple a slight smile while continuing his work._

_“Hello, Sai” greeted Temari once they were face to face._

_“Temari-san, Shikamaru” he greeted back._

_Shikamaru ordered more meat while they got into small talk. Mirai meddling in more than any three year old would._

_“Did Shikamaru tell you Chouji is planning on proposing to Karui?” Ino asked after a while._

_Temari blinked “Really? I had no idea. This lazy ass doesn’t tell me anything”_

_“You just got here” he argued._

_Temari ignored him “Well it’s nice to know at least_ one _of them knows what he wants” she said innocently._

_“And what does that mean?” Shikamaru asked as Ino giggled._

_“Nothing” she lied, grabbing one of the slices of meat Sai had grilled._

_“Are you saying you want to get married?” he asked, passing a small slice to Mirai, whom happily accepted it._

_“Well, I’m not getting any younger”_

_“Last month you told me you didn’t want to marry a lazy ass like me” he reminded her._

_She smirked “That’s true. I don’t want to marry a lazy ass, but at the end of the day, you are_ my _lazy ass”_

_“How romantic” grinned Ino._

_“I will consider marrying you…” he trailed off “the day you stop insulting me”_

_Temari waved a dismissive hand “Guess we will never be together then”_

_“Stop it already, you two” scolded Ino “you two keep acting like you don’t want to be married but act like a married couple nonetheless”_

_“And what about you two?” retorted Temari, pointing a finger at Ino and Sai._

_“What about us?” she asked, playing dumb._

_“You have been dating since the Gengo thing almost two years ago” she stated “when are_ you two _tying the knot?”_

_Ino avoided her glance, instead focusing in the food “Someday…” she trailed off._

_“Soon” stated Sai, placing his hand on top of Ino’s “I’m still trying to figure out this whole thing about love and feelings, but Ino is helping me and I feel…good when I’m with her”_

_“Sai” cried Ino, resting her head on his shoulder._

“Sai” gasped Ino, piercing her eyes to the man to her right. A plan already forming in her head “You should meet my dad”

“You are not even dating” scoffed Tenten.

“So what? We will get married anyway, he needs to meet his new family sooner or later”

_“Well” sighed Temari, placing her chin on her hand “It seems only Shikamaru is lacking the will to marry the woman he loves…”_

_“Mendosuke” growled Shikamaru “Fine. Let’s get married” he stated, getting up._

_“What?” she squealed, staring at him with wide eyes._

_“C’mon, you troublesome woman, we will go with Kakashi-sensei right now and ask him to send a bird to Suna”_

_“I-I was joking!” she yelled “I don’t want to get married yet!”_

_Shikamaru rolled his eyes but returned to his seat “Then why are you making such a big deal out of this?”_

_Temari doubted for a minute before speaking “I have been…receiving letters” she said, sounding unconvinced._

_“Letters?” questioned Ino._

_“Letters!” giggled Mirai, remining Shikamaru they weren’t alone._

_“Letters asking Gaara for my hand in marriage” she clarified. Searching through her leg holder and retrieving a small fan._

_Shikamaru frowned “Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asked, worry leaking through his words._

_“Because I didn’t want you worrying about stuff like that. I can handle this on my own”_

_“Doesn’t Gaara know you’re dating?” asked Ino._

_“He knows” agreed Temari “That’s why he keeps returning the letters. But I’m 23, it’s only natural for man to try and make connections in the land of wind. The Daimyo’s son is particularly eager” she finished to herself._

“That dumbass is still chasing after me?” Temari whined, fanning herself harder than before.

“Still?” coughed Shikamaru. Was the Daimyo’s son already after her?

“He started sending letters when I turned eighteen” she smiled sheepishly. Suddenly ashamed of herself, even though she didn’t know why.

“You rejected the Daimyo’s son for five years?” asked Chouji, impressed.

“Of course” Temari nodded, smirking at the question “I’m not marrying a man unless it’s for love. I’m not some object they can sell off to the highest bidder”

_Sai laughed, gaining everyone’s attention “Shikamaru should be worried. He doesn’t stand a chance against the Daimyo’s son”_

_Ino punched him in the arm “You aren’t supposed to say that” she turned to them “He’s still working on his social skills”_

_“What’s a daimyo?” asked Mirai. Her red eyes exuding curiosity._

_Temari thought of the best way to put it “He’s like…a king” she tried._

_“A king?” Mirai beamed “Are you going to be a princess if you marry him?”_

_“I’m a princess already” she winked at her._

_“You are?” the girl gasped, before turning to Shikamaru “Shikamaru-niisan! Your girlfriend is a princess!”_

_"Wouldn’t I know” he sighed, thinking about ways to resolve his current predicament._

_The girl returned her attention to the blonde “Are you marrying a prince?” she asked._

_“I don’t think so. If I’m already a princess, what do I need a prince for?” she smiled at her, whipping the corner of Mirai’s mouth with her thumb._

_“But the princess always marries the prince!” she tried again._

_“But if I marry a prince wouldn’t your niisan be sad about it?”_

_Mirai stopped to think about it, scrunching her little nose for a few seconds. Then, an idea appeared on her little mind, if the way her eyes light up were anything to go by “You can marry Shikamaru-niisan! And then he will be your prince!”_

_Temari pretended to think about it “Mhm. You may be right. I could marry him and boost his status”_

_“And I could be a princess too!” she smiled._

_“Mhm. That could work” Temari approved, sharing a smile with Shikamaru over the little girl._

_“I guess there’s no other way. Now that Mirai wants to be a princess I think I will have to marry you” he trailed off, faking disinterest._

_“I call maid of honor” squealed Ino “and Mirai can be the little flower girl!”_

_The screen went black._

Before anyone could voice their opinions, Tenten stood up “I don’t want to come out as rude, but can you talk about what you have seen so far once we see _my_ future? I’m the last one and I honestly can’t wait another second to get this done”

“Be my guest” smiled Temari. The less she had to talk about her future the better.

“This is the last one?” beamed Naruto, rubbing his belly “Finally! I was getting hungry!”

“I’m so tired of sitting around” cried Sakura, stretching her limbs. So many hours in the same position couldn't be good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, mystery solved! I honestly don't have much to explain or complain about today lol, i hope the chapter was fine, i had fun writing it at least.  
> Just one question! Are three years old capable of mantaining conversations? lol i haven't been around kids for so long i can't even remember! if that's not the case pls excuse my not so three year old Mirai hehe.  
> I can't believe we are so close to the end! whoa, it doesn't feel like it but it's only been a month since i started this (life is easier when you write the whole thing beforehand)  
> ahh yes! now i remember. i'm not sure about this but does Mirai get some on-screen time with team 8 or 10? in Boruto, i mean. I've only seen some clips about his encounter with Shikamaru and Shikadai, where she implies Shikamaru was her teacher (how cute uwu) but i've not seen anything about the rest of them. I would like to think they all are some sort of sibling figure to her, since they were close to her parents, so yeah :)  
> Find me on tumblr if you feel like it: happy-shinee


	14. Welcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god, is here! I'm sorry it took me longer than usual. Can't believe it's almost over!  
> Please enjoy!

Everything was ok, she had already seen everything that could possibly happen. There was no way anything could surprise her at this point. She had seen it all, really.

She returned to her place next to Neji just as the black faded from the wall.

_Tenten was hanging balloons from the ceiling of a dining room. There was a wooden-table placed in the middle of the room and different pictures were hanging from the walls. Pictures of baby Sora with Tenten, pictures of a small Sora along with Neji and Tenten, pictures of Neji and Tenten alone, of team Gai during their chunin days, along with others too far away to devise the contents._

_Neji was hanging balloon letters that read ‘welcome home’ on one of the walls, the only one free of photographs. He didn’t look much delighted to be doing just that._

_“Tenten!” a voice filled the room, and Sakura appeared from one of the doors “Where is the cream for the cake?”_

_Tenten raised a brow, clearly confused._

_“It’s on the top shelve beside the fridge” Neji informed her, taping another letter to the wall._

_“At least one of you touches the kitchen from time to time” Sakura mumbled as she made her way back to the kitchen._

“Is that like a party or something?” Asked Ino, frowning at the fact that she wasn’t asked to organize everything.

“Looks like someone was away for a long time” pointed Temari, going by the letters on the wall.

_“I’m mildly offended she thinks I would cook something” Tenten scoffed, attaching the last green balloon to the ceiling._

_“No one thinks you can cook, Tenten” smirked Neji, getting down from the chair he was propped up seconds ago._

_Tenten waved a dismissive hand in his direction “Whatever, Mr I can cook anything with my eyes close”_

_“Jealous I don’t go around burning rice even when I’m using the rice-cooker?”_

_She gasped, holding a hand to his chest upon making his way to him “That was one time! How was I supposed to know it requires a certain amount of water depending on the rice used?”_

_Neji raised a brow, placing his arm around her waist and kissing away the frown on her face “Everyone knows that. But don’t worry, I didn’t marry you for your culinary skills”_

_“You married me because I’m amazing. And even if I could cook, I wouldn’t do it. I’m too cool for that” she said, shoving him away playfully._

“Having you two together is like a dream come true!” beamed Lee, leaning in to hug his uncomfortable teammates “I can’t wait to tell Gai-sensei everything!”

_Sasuke entered the room at that moment, Naruto trailing behind him with a big, green box in his arms._

_“Very mature” Sasuke mumbled upon seeing them. He placed a small box on the table before making his way to the kitchen._

_Tenten stuck her tongue out before turning around to face Naruto “I see you brought the whole store, Naruto”_

_The blonde smirked “I’m going to be that kid’s favorite uncle! Just wait and see!”_

_“I think Lee got that spot covered” Neji patted Naruto on the back._

_“I’m sure being Hokage beats being the spandex guy” Naruto laughed, pointing at the kanji on his back. Nanadaime Hokage in big bold letters._

_“My youthfulness is more than enough to counterpart your Hokage-ness, Naruto-kun!” beamed Lee, appearing out of nowhere in the room._

_Neji sighed, sitting on the edge of the table “Lee, that’s not even a word”_

_“Lee” Tenten interrupted, crossing her arms “What are you doing here? You were supposed to escort them here when they arrived in the next hour”_

_That turned up a light in Lee’s brain “Ah! I came to inform you they arrived at the gates five minutes ago and are on their way here as we speak” he lifted a thumb._

_“Ehh????” cried Naruto, looking around at the half-done decorations “We’re not ready! Hinata is out picking up the food! Where are the kids? Kakashi-sensei is going to laugh at us!”_

“Oh, so this party is for Kakashi-sensei?” asked Naruto.

“I think Gai-sensei is involved too” shrugged Tenten “We are not that close to Kakashi-sensei” she finished, pointing at her teammates.

“Maybe they were on a long mission!” Lee gasped “As expected from Gai-sensei. Always working. I must train hard in order to surpass him”

Neji rolled his eyes “Wouldn’t want it any other way”

_Tenten grabbed Lee by the shoulders “What are you doing here then? Go back and make sure to delay them as much as you can!” Lee nodded and disappeared in a rush. She turned to Naruto “You! Finish the decorations and for Kami’s sake don’t make a mess!”_

_“I’m going to get Metal and the kids from the playground” Neji mumbled, leaving the room._

_Tenten nodded, making her way to the kitchen “Sasuke!” she cried as she opened the door. The man was watching Sakura finish the frosting “Go get the kids from the academy! They arrived already!” she ordered. Sasuke disappeared in a puff of smoke._

_“Already?” cried Sakura “They were supposed to get here after the kids got out of school!”_

_“You know Gai-sensei” Tenten sighed, searching around the cabinets “He probably challenged Kakashi-sensei to a race”_

“Oh. It’s them!” Tenten frowned. Why would they throw them a surprise party?

_The door opened again, Hinata entering the room with different bags in her hands “Here is the food” she placed them on the counter “I ran into Neji-niisan outside. They got here early”_

_“Papa, I’m here!” yelled a high-pitched voice the other room._

_“Hima!” yelled Naruto._

“I have a daughter! Where is she? Why isn’t she on screen?!” Naruto yelled, trying to get a better angle of the screen.

“She appeared on Shino’s future, Naruto-kun” Hinata mumbled, smiling at the boy.

“She did? I didn’t see her! Where was she?” The blond asked, leaning closer to Hinata.

The kunoichi blushed “She…was playing with the other kids. She had raven hair and your eyes”

“She will be the cutest kid! ‘Ttebayo!”

_“Oh good” mumbled Tenten, getting the food out of the bags “Neji’s back”_

_“Where’s my dad?” another voice asked._

_“He’s picking up your grandpa” Naruto informed._

_“You better be finishing up decorations, Naruto!” Tenten yelled loud enough for him to hear._

_“Tenten is no fun” the blond mumbled to the kids, not low enough for the girls to miss it._

_Hinata giggled, quickly covering her mouth with her hand when Tenten frowned at her._

_A loud crash was heard from the door. Tenten made her way to the dining room to find the rest of their kids talking among each other while Sasuke picked up Naoko in his arms._

_“I beat you! I clearly reached the front door before you!” Boruto was exclaiming, pointing at the door._

_“That’s not true! I certainly got to the fence before you!” Sarada retorted, hands in her hips. She turned to her dad “Papa! Tell him I won!”_

_Sasuke looked between the two kids, not knowing what to say._

“Oh my god” pouted Sakura, eyeing the screen “It’s like watching those two again. Just smaller”

“And one of them is a girl” reminded Ino.

_“Both of you are wrong” stated Taro, watching them from the entrance “The winner was the first one to get into the house, and that was Sora. You two lost”_

_Tenten turned to Sora, already talking to Neji on the other side of the room._

“Isn’t she the cutest?” cooed Tenten. Her womb sure did a good job.

“Well, have you seen Neji?” reasoned Kiba, pointing at the Hyuga “He’s clearly good looking”

Tenten threw a kunai at him. No one blamed her.

_“That’s not fair! She wasn’t even playing!” Boruto shouted._

_“You’re always on her side, Taro!” Sarada pointed an accusatory finger at her brother._

_“Everyone please shut up!” Sakura growled, stepping out of the kitchen with the cake in her hands._

“Sakura-chan is still as scary as always” Naruto whispered, looking at the murderous look on her face.

“Someone clearly has to keep you all on check” Temari pointed out, watching the mess taking place in the vision.

_“They are about to get here and we’re clearly not prepared! Now if you could be so kind and take your places before they arrive that would be wonderful!” Sakura hissed, placing the cake on the table._

_“They’re outside!” half-whispered Naruto, going to check the window._

_“Everyone, hide!” ordered Tenten, rushing to grab Metal and hiding behind the table._

_She could spot Hinata and Hima behind the curtains covering the window Naruto had checked not long ago. Sakura hiding behind the kitchen door, Sasuke and Naoko standing behind one of the couches while Boruto, Sarada and Taro stood behind the wall separating the dining room from the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Lastly, Neji and Sora were crunched down on the other side of the table._

_The front door opened slowly, the voice of Lee filling the house as he motioned for his companions to enter._

_“You know we can sense your chakra signatures even if you’re trying to hide them, right?” a voice filled the house._

_Shouts erupted from all over the hiding places “Welcome home!”_

_Kakashi, Gai and a small boy, Yukio, stood in the dining room entrance. The kid had his hand firmly wrapped around Gai’s arm while Lee pushed his wheelchair._

“Oh my god” cried Ino, pointing at the screen.

“Bushy brows-sensei is Yukio’s mother?” yelled Naruto, smashing his cheeks “Wait…” he said after a few seconds “That’s not possible, is it?” he frowned.

Sakura rolled her eyes “Of course that’s not possible! Maybe they adopted him?”

“Gai-sensei is on wheelchair!” cried Lee, tears actually falling down his cheeks.

“Maybe he got injured during a mission” reasoned Shikamaru.

_“Yukio!” cried Tenten “You look so big! You were so little the last time you were here!”_

_“He looks so much like you, Kakashi-sensei!” beamed Sakura, clapping her hands._

_“Mah” Kakashi weaved a hand “He’s got his mother’s eyes”_

_“How is she? Chojuro hasn’t mention her in a while” Asked Naruto, hugging Kakashi._

_“She’s happily retired and currently taking a deserved vacation with her friends” Kakashi sighed “Something we should be doing too, don’t you think, Gai?”_

“Who’s Chojuro? Who’s the mother?” Sakura frowned, not understanding anything that was going on.

“Another foreigner?” guessed Chouji.

_“Ah, Kakashi, that’s not very youthful of you! Yukio is going to need us now that he’s becoming a genin!”_

_“But Yukio is a big boy now. Aren’t you?” he asked the kid currently surrounded by the other kids and being crushed by Metal._

_“I’m twelve, father” the kid deadpanned, as best as he could while on his predicament._

_Sakura laughed “Anyway!” she walked around the table, pointing at the food sitting on it “We prepared a party to celebrate your awaited presence in Konoha, Yukio!”_

_“The kid is no longer here, Sakura” Sasuke informed her, pointing at the empty space where they were seconds ago._

_The pink-haired kunoichi turned on her heels, facing an empty room except for the adults standing around the table._

_“They took him outside as soon as you turned around” Tenten explained, taking a seat next to Neji._

_“Ah, I remember being their age! Full of youth and ready to take over the world” Gai smiled, reaching for a piece of dango._

_“At least there’s no war now” mumbled Kakashi, sitting next to him._

_“So, how did the Mizukage took the lost of her only son?” asked Neji, crossing his arms over his chest._

“The Mizukage!” yelled Sakura “Kakashi-sensei had a kid with the Mizukage!”

“Is that even legal?” frowned Ino.

“Temari married Shikamaru” pointed Shino, face blank of emotion as always “And she’s royalty back in Suna. It doesn’t seem that unlikely”

“And Chouji married that girl, Karui, a foreigner” reminded Kiba.

“And the spandex kid is somehow dating my brother” Temari scrunched her nose.

“In conclusion, the future is different. You get to date whoever you want across the elemental nations” finished Shikamaru.

_“She must’ve been really sad, sending her son away for such long time” mumbled Hinata._

_“Mah, she knew it was a possibility. Yukio wanted to spend time with us” he shrugged, placing his chin on his hand “She will be coming more often. Tsunade made sure to inform her she could stay at her place as much as she needed”_

_“I was sure the assure her she could stay with us!” Gai interrupted “Unfortunately, she said she didn’t want people thinking we had some sort of weird relationship going on”_

_“Can’t blame her” coughed Sasuke, earning himself a frown from Sakura “Can_ you _imagine being in a relationship with him?”_

_She shook her head, unable to come up with an answer._

“Gai-sensei…” trailed Tenten, scratching the space between her buns “I’m not even surprised”

“Kakashi-sensei on the other hand...” finished Neji.

“I can’t even believe it. How can anyone date Kakashi-sensei? That’s beyond me” Sakura shook her head.

“What? What’s not surprising?” asked Naruto.

Tenten raised a brow, Naruto was so dense the truth could kick him in the head and he would still be oblivious to it “They’re dating, Naruto”

Naruto’s eyes opened in surprise “Kakashi-sensei and bushy brows-sensei? No way!”

Neji pointed at the screen, where Gai had his hand over Kakashi’s.

_“He’ll be graduating this year then” continued Neji._

_“That’s the idea. I’m filling him in on the basic now that he’s here and if everything goes well he’ll be a genin in a few months” Kakashi nodded._

_“They grow up so fast” smiled Hinata, pointing at the pictures in the wall “I remember them being babies. Boruto is no longer that little boy, too busy now running around and pranking everyone. And Himawari is five now”_

_“Tell me about it! Taro is already eleven, probably graduating next year and Sarada already started the academy. And don’t let me get started on Naoko. It feels like I was carrying him around just yesterday”_

_“I remember when Sora was born. She was so small, now she won’t even let me tuck her into bed” cried Tenten, resting her head on Neji’s shoulder._

_“But she likes it when_ I _do it” Neji reminded her._

_“Show off” Tenten growled._

_The screen went black._

“And here I though nothing else could surprise me” Tenten shook her head.

“That was cute” smiled Chouji “I hope our teams get together like that in the future, with Kurenai-sensei and Mirai. I’m sure Asuma-sensei would be happy” he said to Shino and Hinata.

Hinata quickly nodded “It would be wonderful”

“I will make sure to present the idea when the time comes” agreed Shino.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, first of all, this was not the original chapter i had written for Tenten, that's why it took me longer to update, since i rewrote it completely! Originally, i didn't tell you about Yukio's mother (and second father lol), i didn't think it mattered that much since her mother was away, but i ended up adding it.  
> Of course they have no idea who Mei is, since she doesn't make her appareance yet by the time the watch their futures, but you do lol, what did you think? I personally don't find a reason to ship them, but have you seen the woman? she's perfect! and Kakashi? Also perfect! I couldn't pass the opportunity since the kid they had could be the epitome of beauty! My idea is, they had a little fling during Kakashi's years as Hokage that ended up with Yukio being born. Of course they didn't last (Mei was all about marriage and Kakashi was...well, Kakashi)  
> I can't really see him settling down with a girl, the only person i can think of is Gai (sorry if you don't like it). Gai was the only constant in Kakashi's life for years, since the academy and into his retirement days, so yeah, Kakashi and Gai got together at some point, Gai acted as Yukio's second father figure and they have a good relationship. They're not married, since Kakashi is Kakashi, but they're happy.  
> Also, Neji and Tenten did in fact get married at some point and Tenten is a terrible cook! And Gaara couldn't make it to the party because of Kazekage business :)  
> Please let me know what you think! See you soon for the last chapter!


	15. Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter is up and rolling! I'm pretty emotional about it. Thank you for sticking with me through this story!

“Man, all of this was intense” growled Kiba, standing up and stretching his limbs.

“Finally!” agreed Ino, trying to rearrange her hair in her classic ponytail.

“What do we do now?” asked Tenten, resting her chin on her hands.

“What do you mean?” Chouji was already out of his seat. It was past dinner, after all.

“Will the future still happen even if we already know about it?” Tenten explained, a hint of exasperation in her voice.

“I suppose no” it was Shikamaru who answered.

“No?” cried Hinata, covering her mouth.

Shikamaru shook his head “As we said before, it’s easy to change the future because once you know what will happen things automatically change. Be it because you want things to happen exactly the same or in a different way, but you try to act towards your goal”

Shino nodded “And as you don’t know how things went the first time around, your actions have the power to change everything for better or worse”

“So we basically watched this for nothing?” Naruto frowned, crossing his arms “Am I not going to be Hokage then?”

“Not necessarily” Neji raised a finger “There are things that will probably happen no matter what we saw, like Kakashi and Naruto becoming Hokage, I think. But other things ꟷpersonal things, may change”

“Like what?” Lee raised one of his eyebrows.

“Like the kids” Temari placed her small fan on her back pouch “Knowing who we end up with can change the timeline, like starting to date before we did the first time around can end up with us having kids before the right time”

“You mean if we don’t do things the exact same way we did before we knew what would happen, things will simply be different this time around?” Ino frowned.

“It’s troublesome” Shikamaru lighted a cigarette by the window “but yes, that’s pretty much it”

“But we don’t know how to do things exactly the same!” yelled Naruto.

“We only saw the outcome of things!” Chouji opened another bag of chips. _Stress eating much?_ Sakura thought, _probably._

“That’s the price one must pay for knowing things you shouldn’t know” Kakashi answered, once again appearing out of nowhere next to Shikamaru.

“Kakashi-sense!” growled Sakura, resisting the urge to call him out on his bullshit.

“Tsunade-sama send me here to retrieve the important information of your mission”

“I was going to debrief the mission as soon as we were done here” informed Sakura, reaching for the orb.

“You may want to…leave the details out of it” coughed Neji, probably trying to forget what the visions had shown.

“Mah, no need for that” Kakashi gestured vaguely around “I’m sure most of what you saw is personal stuff we’re not interested in. We only need the information relevant to the village’s future”

“Oh, in that case…” Sakura went onto the information they had recruited. Jiraiya’s code, the apparent Konoha’s invasion, the not yet sure but possible war that turned them into the Konoha 13, Sasuke’s return that they still didn’t know how happened. Naruto’s Hokage position.

“Ah, yes, the inevitable turn of events that will soon make my life harder than it is” Kakashi sighed once she told him about his Hokage position “I found out about that during my turn with the orb”

“Oh! Kakashi-sensei did you find about you anꟷ Ouch!” Naruto yelped as Sakura tugged his arm. She shook her head at him.

“Mhm? Naruto?” Kakashi asked, noticing the exchange between his former students.

“I… told you I would become Hokage! ‘Ttebayo!” he grinned at his sensei.

Kakashi ignored him in order to roam into his pouch, searching for something. Once he found what he was looking for, he placed a scroll in Shikamaru’s hand “This is your next mission” he informed them, placing his hands back in his pockets “It’s urgent and must be taken care off immediately”

Shikamaru examined the scroll, there was a seal placed on it, preventing it from being open “Why is it sealed?”

“You will find out once you open it” he motioned for Sakura to bring him the orb “I’ll take the orb back to the Hokage while you proceed with it. Make sure all of you are in the room when you open it” he pointed, taking the orb from Sakura.

“Details?” Neji asked.

“I’m not from Konoha, does that mean I can leave already? I’m suppose to go back to Suna tomorrow before dawn and it’s already late enough” Temari mumbled, placing her fan on her back.

Kakashi pointed at her “It will only take a few minutes of your time, Tsunade made it clear she wanted all of you to take part in it”

Temari crossed her arms, but made no move to leave.

“Anyway, see you guys soon enough” Kakashi gave a peace sign before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

“I’m hungry” whined Chouji, placing a hand on his belly “Let’s do this so I can go home”

“I was supposed to be home half an hour ago” cried Ino, sitting back on the floor.

Shikamaru threw the remains of his cigarette trough the window before grabbing the seal on the scroll and breaking it.

“Kakashi-sensei didn’t even say what this was about! He just ignored Neji” Naruto growled in frustration.

“The instructions must be inside” Sai offered.

Sakura had other thoughts in mind. Why had Tsunade-shishou send Kakashi-sensei instead of waiting for her to give her the details? Something was fishy. It’s not like she was such an impatient person. Ok, maybe just a little.

Then, there was the issue about Kakashi wanting them all there when Shikamaru opened the scroll, that made no sense either, why would he want Temari there? It wasn’t as if she was one of them…yet. But she had been there to see the orb thing, so maybe it was related to that.

She glanced to the purple scroll back in Shikamaru’s hand. It seemed familiar, but not enough for her to remember where she had seen it. Maybe back in the library. She had read a pretty impressive number of books during her life, mostly to learn stuff about medical ninjutsu, but other things too. The more she thought about it the further the information slipped.

Then it hit her. She hadn’t read about it, but rather heard about the scroll from Tsunade. Used by T&I division, it was a special type of scroll that contained a seal used to wipe the memories of those tortured for information, in order to prevent them from revealing information about Konoha in case of scape.

They wanted to wipe their memories so it wouldn’t affect the future. Oh Kami. Her eyes traced the figures of her friends. As much as she wanted to change a few things, she could see the reason they were doing this.

She kept her mouth shut as Shikamaru finally opened the scroll.

The seal activated.

And then there was nothing but black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anddddd, that's it!  
> The memorie thing had to happen in order for things to follow its course. If they kept their memories probably most of what happened woudn't have, so yeah, I'm sure they will be glad at the end :P  
> I'm really happy I finally manage to finish one of my many WIPs. Life is difficult when you loose inspiration half through the story hehe (I'm not lying, i have like ten WIP sitting on my documents since the beginning of quarantine, when i started to write).  
> Thank you so much for keeping me company through this little work, it wasn't much but i tried my best lol. The sequel is already in the works. It will consist of different ideas i had for this one but they didn't work because of the context the visions took place (like different point of views and all that). I won't be updating that one as often as this one, since i don't have that one written out completely, and also i'm going back to university next week (my last semester, i can't believe it!) so yeah, but it's coming, don't worry. I think i'll upload the first chapter before going back to class.  
> Again, thank you so so so much and see you next time if you feel like it!  
> (Find me on tumblr: happy-shinee)


End file.
